Seattle-based Nordstrom Inc. continues to go against the grain amidst an industrywide department-store sales slump, posting decent sales gains and a jump in its comps in the second quarter.
Those gains have sent the company’s shares soaring in aftermarket trading — up over 5 percent at press time.
The company said the performance was largely in line with its expectations for the quarter, reflecting “the execution of its customer strategy and continued top-line strength fueled by its growth investments.”
“The company’s strategic growth investments, including its entry into Canada, the acquisition of Trunk Club and the launch of Nordstromrack.com, drove over one-third of the total sales growth in the second quarter,” Nordstrom said in a release.
The firm’s EPS (diluted) was a solid beat on market watchers’ bets for Q2, while revenues — which rose 9 percent year-over-year — fell slightly short of expectations.
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Comps for the quarter rose by 5 percent year-on-year.
Net Income: Nordstrom’s net income for the second quarter, ended Aug. 1, 2015, totaled $211 million, a 15 percent gain from $183 million in the comparable quarter.
EPS: Diluted earnings per share were $1.09, compared with diluted EPS of 95 cents in the year-ago quarter.
Net Revenue: Revenues totaled $3.6 billion, a 9.2 percent gain over last year’s same-quarter sales of $3.3 billion.
Hit, Miss or Beat: The firm’s EPS (diluted) beat market watchers’ bets for Q2, while its revenues slightly missed expectations. Analysts polled by Yahoo Finance had predicted EPS of 90 cents and revenues of $3.7 billion.
Executive Insights: “We are focused on further integrating our businesses through service and experience, product and capabilities. Our recent initiatives around stores and mobile, along with our Trunk Club acquisition, are ways to create a more relevant experience for our customers. We consider full-line stores to be the core of our brand, providing our customers with the high level of service they expect from us. Not only are we serving more customers at new stores, we are benefiting from synergies across our channels.”
– Nordstrom Co-President Blake Nordstrom, on Q2 conference call.
