Shares of department-store chain Macy’s Inc. slid 8% in after-hours trading on Friday after the retailer gave a more downbeat forecast on its fourth-quarter sales, with management citing big “lulls” in the holiday-shopping season and saying customers would likely feel the squeeze from inflation into next year.
Executives said they expected those sales to land in the “low-end to mid-point” of prior expectations for between $8.161 billion to $8.401 billion. They said they expected adjusted earnings per share to be within its previously forecast range of $1.47 to $1.67.
“Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales were in line with our expectations, while the week leading up to and following Christmas were ahead,” Macy’s
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Chief Executive Jeff Gennette said in a statement. “However, the lulls of the non-peak holiday weeks were deeper than anticipated.”
“Based on current macro-economic indicators and our proprietary credit card data,” he continued, “we believe the consumer will continue to be pressured in 2023, particularly in the first half, and have planned inventory mix and depth of initial buys accordingly.”
Macy’s issued the sales and profit figures as Wall Street parses consumer behavior during the holiday season. Adobe on Thursday said online sales surpassed $210 billion and beat expectations. Costco Wholesale Corp., a day earlier, reported an increase in December sales, even though online sales fell.
