Macy's Stock Gains 6% Following Q4 Beat

Shares of Macy's, Inc. M were trading higher by more than 6 percent after the company reported its fourth quarter results.

Macy's said it earned $2.09 per share in the fourth quarter on revenue of $8.869 billion. Wall Street analysts were expecting the company to earn $1.89 per share on revenue of $8.83 billion.

Macy's noted that its quarterly sales fell 5.3 percent from a year ago, while comparable sales were lower by 4.3 percent on an owned plus licensed basis and down 4.8 percent on an owned basis.

Operating income for the quarter fell to $936 million from $1.364 billion a year ago. The company cited $177 million in impairment charges and $123 million of severance and other human resources related costs associated with organizational changes.

Looking forward to the full fiscal year 2016, Macy's expects to earn $3.80 to $3.90 per share and for comparable sales on an owned plus licensed basis to be down approximately 1 percent and lower by 50 basis points on an owned basis.

"While 2015 was challenging, our sales trend improved in January as the weather turned colder in northern climate zones and Macy's and Bloomingdale's were well-stocked in coats, boots, sweaters, gloves, hats and other seasonal goods. As the year ended, our inventories were in good shape (up by 0.7 percent on a comp basis)," said Terry J. Lundgren, chairman and chief executive officer of Macy's, Inc. "We are encouraged by the way the business responded going into 2016, and we believe we are well positioned to stabilize sales levels this year as we lay the foundation for enhanced shareholder value and sustained, long-term profitable growth. Given our determination to rise above our disappointing 2015 performance, I have reminded my team that our setback last year is a setup for our comeback.