Last month, reports regarding wealthy shoppers spending more gave investors reason to think high-end retail locations would fare well in the quarter that ended January 31st, but such was not the case. Nordstrom, the luxury department store and leader in its segment came up short of analyst predictions in reports released Monday.
For the quarter, analysts forecast profits of 79 cents per share, of which they earned 77 cents. The company reported earnings of $172 million. While beneath predictions the numbers are still a tremendous improvement on those posted last year for this quarter of $68 million, or 31 cents per share.
Sales improved by 10 percent from $2.3 billion to $2.54 billion while same-store (locations open more than a year) rose 6.9 percent.
The company remains optimistic for the coming year with Nordstrom forecasting earnings from between $2.35 and $2.55 for 2010 and same-store sales increases of as much as 4%. Wall Street is expecting earnings of $2.41 a share.
Despite the improvements, shares of Nordstrom fell 3.8 percent to $34.70 in after-hours trading in response to the company’s failure to meet predictions.
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