How Nordstrom Knocked It Out of the Park in Q2

August 17, 2018 by Chris Lange

When Nordstrom Inc. (NYSE: JWN) reported its most recent quarterly results after the markets closed on Thursday, the department store chain said that it had $0.95 in earnings per share (EPS) and $4.07 billion in revenue. Consensus estimates had called for $0.84 in EPS and revenue of $3.96 billion. The fiscal second-quarter of last year reportedly had EPS of $0.65 and $3.79 billion in revenue.

During the most recent quarter, sales from Nordstrom Rewards customers represented 58% of the quarterly sales, compared with 56% a year ago.

At the same time, comparable sales increased 4.0% in the second quarter. In Full-Price stores, comparable sales increased 4.1%, and in Off-Price stores comparable sales increased 4.0%.

So far in fiscal 2018, the company has opened eight stores, closed two and relocated one. This gives Nordstrom a total footprint of 372 stores.

Looking ahead to the 2018 fiscal full year, the company expects to see EPS in the range of $3.50 to $3.65 and net sales between $15.4 billion and $15.5 billion, with comparable sales growing 1.5% to 2.0%. Consensus estimates call for $3.46 in EPS and $15.78 billion in revenue for the year.

During the six months ended August 4, Nordstrom repurchased 1.8 million shares of its common stock for $87 million. A total capacity of $327 million remains available under its existing share repurchase authorization.

Shares of Nordstrom closed Thursday at $52.28, with a consensus analyst price target of $53.00 and a 52-week trading range of $37.79 to $54.97. Following the announcement, the stock was up over 7% at $56.23 in early trading indications Friday.

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