Nordstrom Reports Lower Profit; Stock Falls

Retailer Nordstrom (NYSE: JWN) released its fiscal first-quarter earnings results on Thursday after the closing bell. The company missed Wall Street earnings per share and revenue estimates and the stock was trading down around 3 percent in the after-hours. The company reported net earnings of $145 million or $0.73 per share, compared to $149 million or $0.70 per share, in last year's corresponding period. The discrepancy in earnings on a per share basis was due to a lower share count. The results missed Wall Street estimates calling for EPS of $0.76. Net sales in the quarter were $2.65 billion versus $2.53 billion last year. This also came up short of analysts' consensus revenue estimates of $2.80 billion. Looking ahead to fiscal 2013, Nordstrom reaffirmed its previous outlook calling for a profit of $3.65 to $3.80 per share. Same-store sales growth is now expected to be 3.0 percent to 5.0 percent compared to a previous outlook of 3.5 percent to 5.5 percent. Sales are now expected to be up 4.0 percent to 6.0 percent from its prior outlook calling for growth of between 4.5 percent to 6.5 percent. Currently, analysts have consensus EPS estimates of $0.87 on revenue of $3.31 billion for fiscal 2013.