Macy's whiffed on sales and lowered its outlook, and now the stock is crashing

Macy's reported third-quarter sales that missed analysts' expectations on Wednesday, and blamed weaker consumer demand.

Shares fell by as much as 12% in early trading to the lowest level since early 2013.

America's largest department-store chain reported a 5% drop in revenues to $5.87 billion, missing Bloomberg's consensus estimate of $6.1 billion. Macy's reported earnings per share of $0.56, beating the forecast for $0.54.

The company's earnings statement said,

We are disappointed that the pace of sales did not improve in the third quarter, as we had expected. Spending by domestic customers remained tepid, especially in key apparel and accessory categories. Simultaneously, the slowdown in buying by international visitors continued to significantly impact Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s stores in tourist centers, which are some of our company’s largest-volume and most profitable locations.

Macy's lowered its guidance for 2015 earnings per share to a range of $4.20 to $4.30 from $4.70 to $4.80. It estimated that same-store sales, at stores open for at least one year, would fall by 1.8% to 2.2% for the full year.

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(Google)

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