Former Macy’s CEO on Q2 results: “all arrows point green over the long term”

Macy’s Inc (NYSE: M) reported market-beating results for its fiscal second quarter on Thursday. Shares of the company jumped more than 15% as it raised its guidance for the full year.

Financial performance

Macy’s said its net income in the second quarter printed at $345 million ($1.08 per share) versus the year-ago figure of $431 million ($1.39 per share). On an adjusted basis, the department store retailer earned $1.29 a share.

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The American holding company generated $5.647 billion of sales – an increase from $3.559 billion in the same quarter last year. According to FactSet, experts had forecast 23 cents of adjusted EPS on $5.011 billion in sales.

Macy’s board authorised $500 million of share repurchase this morning and reinstated dividend at 15 cents a share for the quarter.

Guidance for the full year

For the full year, the Ohio-based company now forecasts up to $23.95 billion in sales and $3.41 to $3.75 of adjusted EPS. In comparison, analysts are calling for $2.32 of adjusted per-share earnings on $22.09 billion of sales.

In related news, peer Kohl’s also reported its financial results for the second quarter this morning.

Terry Lundgren’s comments on CNBC’s “Squawk Box”

On CNBC’s “Squawk Box”, Macy’s former CEO Terry Lundgren said that resumed share buyback and quarterly dividend is an indication that “all arrows point green for Macy’s over the long term”.

“Macy’s is positioned very well. They’ve done a great job since the start of the pandemic. Macy’s has not slowed down, it made proper investments, focused on getting lean, and even got rid of stores that were cash-flow positive but without a big future in terms of top-line growth. They’ve made a lot of these hard decisions,” he added.

Lundgren said he was expecting the retail sector to shine this quarter, but names, including Target Corp and Macy’s, exceeded his expectations.