NORDSTROM STOCK DROPS ON UPDATED FISCAL 2016 GUIDANCE

Seattle-based retailer Nordstrom, Inc. released its Fiscal 2015 and fourth quarter earnings, which were mostly in line with expectations, on Thursday, February 18. Nonetheless, the company’s stock dropped over 10 percent in after hours and early Friday morning trading due to the retailer’s updated guidance for the first half of the new fiscal year, including the expectation that profit per share will fall 30 percent.

Earnings per diluted share for the fourth quarter, which ended January 30, 2016, were $1.00, which included asset impairment charges of $0.17 that were not included in the company’s outlook. Fourth quarter net sales increased 5.2 percent and comparable sales increased 1.0 percent, consistent with a comparable sales increase of 0.9 percent in the third quarter.

For fiscal 2015, earnings per diluted share were $3.15. Excluding impairment charges, earnings were in-line with the company’s outlook of $3.30 to $3.40. Fiscal 2015 net sales increased 7.5 percent and comparable sales increased 2.7 percent, in-line with the company’s outlook of 2.5 to 3.0 percent. Full year net earnings were $600 million and EBIT were $1.1 billion compared with net earnings of $720 million and EBIT of $1.3 billion in fiscal 2014.

For the fourth quarter, full-line store net sales decreased 2.5 percent and comparable sales decreased 3.2 percent. However, Nordstrom.com net sales increased 11 percent, and off-price net sales, which consist of Nordstrom Rack stores and Nordstromrack.com/HauteLook, increased 12 percent and comparable sales increased 3.6 percent. The East was the top-performing off-price geographic region.

For fiscal 2015, full-line store net sales decreased 0.6 percent and comparable sales decreased 1.1 percent. However, Nordstrom.com net sales increased 15 percent, while off-price net sales increased 14 percent and comparable sales increased 4.3 percent.

In fiscal 2016, Nordstrom will open three new full-line stores and 20 new Nordstrom Rack stores.