-=Macy's (M) reported earnings on Wed 15 Aug 2018 (b/o)

Macy's beats by $0.09, reports revs in-line; raises FY19 guidance 

• Reports Q2 (Jul) earnings of $0.59 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.09 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $0.50; revenues fell 1.1% year/year to $5.57 bln vs the $5.55 bln Capital IQ Consensus.
• Comparable sales on an owned basis that were flat vs. -0.7% estimates. On an owned plus licensed basis, comparable sales were up 0.5% for the second quarter of 2018. Due to the 53-week calendar in fiscal 2017, there have been some timing adjustments in the co's typical promotional calendar, including the shift in the spring Friends & Family promotion. As reported earlier, this shift caused a positive impact in the first quarter of 2018 of ~250 basis points. The shift also caused a negative impact of ~240 basis points in the second quarter, as compared to 2017. Adjusting for this shift, the company estimates that comparable sales on an owned plus licensed basis were up 2.9% for the second quarter. When looking at the first half of 2018, comparable sales on an owned basis were up 1.9% compared to the first half of 2017. On an owned plus licensed basis, comparable sales were up 2.3% for the first half of 2018.
• Co issues guidance for FY19, raises EPS to $3.95-4.15, excluding non-recurring items, from $3.75-3.95 vs. $3.87 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees FY19 revs of +0.0-0.7% to ~$24.84-25.02 bln (from down 1% to up 0.5%) vs. $24.87 bln Capital IQ Consensus. Comparable sales on an owned plus licensed basis are expected to increase between 2.0 and 2.5% for the second half of 2018, which translates to an annual increase of between 2.1 and 2.5% (up from +1-2%). Comparable sales on an owned basis are expected to be 20-30 basis points below comparable sales on an owned plus licensed basis in fiscal 2018, which is consistent with prior guidance.