What happened
A pronounced decline in quarterly sales sent Nordstrom (JWN 0.68%) investors heading for the exits on the last trading day of the week. The storied retailer's stock price was down by almost 8% in late-session trading on Friday, contrasting sharply with the 0.8% gain of the S&P 500 index.
So what
Just after market hours on Thursday, Nordstrom published those quarterly figures. These showed that the company's revenue fell by nearly 8% year over year to $3.77 billion. Net income veered in the opposite direction, rising by 9% to $137 million. That profitability filtered down into a per-share figure of $0.84 according to both GAAP and non-GAAP (adjusted) standards.
Collectively, analysts tracking the retail stock were modeling revenue of $3.65 billion and per-share earnings of $0.44.
Nordstrom management attributed the revenue drop to factors such as store closures in Canada and the timing of its anniversary sale. It said that "historical highs" in losses from theft also played a part.
Spinning the quarter's figures as "solid," CEO Erik Nordstrom was quoted by his company as saying that they "reflect the continued progress we made against our top priorities to improve Nordstrom Rack performance, increase inventory productivity and deliver efficiencies through supply chain optimization."
Nordstrom Rack is the company's chain of discount retail stores.
Now what
Investors were also likely disheartened by Nordstrom's full-year 2023 guidance, which anticipates continued revenue decline. The company believes its annual top line will fall by 4% to 6% from the 2022 level. At least the company should be profitable -- it's forecasting per-share, adjusted earnings of $1.80 to $2.20.
