Macy's Misses Q1 Views

reported weaker-than-expected results for the first quarter. The Cincinnati, Ohio-based company posted quarterly earnings of $193 million, or $0.56 per share, compared to $224 million, or $0.60 per share, in the year-ago period. Its revenue slipped 0.7 percent to $6.23 billion. However, analysts were expecting a profit of $0.62 per share on revenue of $6.32 billion. The average estimate among 28 Estimize users was for earnings of $0.63 per share and revenue of $6.36 billion. Macy's same-store sales dropped 0.1 percent in the quarter. Its operating income fell to $409 million for the first quarter, from $443 million in the year-ago quarter. During the quarter, Macy's repurchased around 5.9 million shares of its common stock for a total of around $385 million. The company announced its plans to raise its quarterly dividend to $0.36 per share from 31.25 cents. The company also raised its share repurchase authorization by $1.5 billion. "We had expected our first quarter sales to grow at a rate lower than our guidance for the full year. We fell short because of a confluence of factors," said Terry J. Lundgren, Macy's, Inc. chairman and chief executive officer. "Delayed merchandise shipments from the West Coast port slowdown and severe winter weather early in the quarter restrained business levels. Moreover, sales were negatively affected by lower levels of spending by international tourists visiting major U.S. cities with flagship Macy's and Bloomingdale's stores, including New York City, Chicago, Las Vegas and San Francisco. The omnichannel reorganization in our merchandising, planning and marketing organizations announced in January and February also caused some temporary disruption as executives in those areas learned new roles and procedures. Fortunately, most of these short-term issues are largely behind us." Macy's reaffirmed FY15 earnings forecast of $4.70 to $4.80 per share. Macy's shares fell 1.38 percent to $64.43 in pre-market trading.