Macy's Q1 Sales Up 1.8%, Best in Four Years

By Greg Peters • Wednesday, June 03 16:05 • Permanent Link

Macy’s Inc. said first-quarter net sales rose 1.8% from a year earlier to $4.7 billion, while comparable sales increased 3.0%, the company’s best first quarter in four years.

The gains were broad-based across the portfolio. Macy’s comparable sales rose 1.6%, with its Reimagine 200 locations up 2.4%. Bloomingdale’s posted a 10.2% comparable sales increase, its seventh straight quarter of gains, and Bluemercury comparable sales climbed 6.4%.

Other revenue increased 8.2% to $210 million. Credit card net revenues rose 11.7% to $172 million, while Macy’s media network revenue fell 5.0% to $38 million.

Gross margin rate was 38.9%, down 30 basis points from a year ago. Selling, general and administrative expenses increased $39 million to $2.0 billion, but remained flat at 39.9% as a share of total revenue.

Net income improved to $63 million from $38 million in the prior-year quarter. Diluted earnings per share rose to $0.23 from $0.13. Adjusted diluted EPS increased to $0.13 from $0.11.

Adjusted EBITDA slipped to $290 million from $304 million, and the margin eased to 5.9% from 6.3%.

Inventories rose 3.6% year over year. Macy’s ended the quarter with $1.3 billion in cash and cash equivalents and $2.0 billion of available borrowing capacity. Total debt was $2.4 billion.

During the quarter, the company returned $50 million to shareholders through dividends and repurchased 2.6 million shares for $50 million. It also said it had about $1.1 billion remaining under its $2.0 billion share repurchase authorization.

Macy’s raised its full-year outlook. It now expects 2026 net sales of $21.5 billion to $21.75 billion, up from prior guidance of $21.4 billion to $21.65 billion. Comparable sales guidance was lifted to a range of up 0.5% to up 1.2%, from a prior range of down 0.5% to up 0.5%. Adjusted diluted EPS guidance was increased to $2.00 to $2.20 from $1.90 to $2.10. Adjusted EBITDA margin guidance remained unchanged at 7.7% to 7.9%. As a result of these announcements, the company's shares have moved 0.12% on the market, and are now trading at a price of $21.695. If you want to know more, read the company's complete 8-K report here.

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