Shoppers enter a Nordstrom department store in Austin, Texas, on March 3, 2023.
Brandon Bell | Getty Images
Nordstrom On Friday, it raised its full-year sales forecast, after holiday shopping at its stores and on its website came in stronger than the department store's cautious outlook.
The company stuck to profit guidance despite higher sales guidance.
The Seattle-based retailer said it now expects full-year revenue to grow 1.5% to 2.5%, which includes the impact of having a shorter fiscal week. This compares to its previous forecast of 1%.
Nordstrom struck a conservative note with its forecasts in late November, despite beating Wall Street expectations for fiscal third-quarter sales. It expected full-year revenue to range from flat to 1%. It said adjusted earnings for this year would range between $1.75 and $2.05 per share. Its revenues include retail sales and credit card revenues.
On an earnings call at the time, CEO Eric Nordstrom said the company saw a “significant decline in sales trends at the end of October” and took that into account in its forecast.
However, in a press release issued Friday, he attributed the better-than-expected holiday sales to the company's “efforts to remain competitive in the promotional environment and the strength of our offerings.”
Nordstrom said net sales rose 4.9% and comparable sales, a measure that excludes the impact of store openings and closings, increased 5.8% for the nine-week holiday period that ended Jan. 4 compared to the same quarter last year that ended in December. 30.
During the holiday period, net sales at the Nordstrom banner rose 3.7% and comparable sales rose 6.5%. At Nordstrom Rack, the company's off-price tag, net sales increased 7.4% and comparable sales increased 4.3%.
The department store operator's results provide further insights for investors monitoring the health of American consumers and the performance of retailers during the key shopping season. Retailers, including Walmart, Best Buy, Macy's and others, will report earnings starting in late February.
So far, the early holiday numbers look promising. Online spending in the U.S. rose nearly 9% from Nov. 1 through Dec. 31 compared to the same period last year and totaled $241.4 billion, according to Adobe Analytics. U.S. holiday retail sales, excluding auto sales, rose 3.8% year over year from Nov. 1 through Dec. 24, according to Mastercard SpendingPulse, which measures in-store and online sales across payment types.
Nordstrom's update comes as the founding family prepares to take the retailer private. Nordstrom in late December announced a roughly $6.25 billion purchase of the family and Mexican department store El Puerto de Liverpool. The transaction, which has been approved by the company's board of directors, is expected to close in the first half of 2025.
Nordstrom shares closed at $24.01, down about 4% from their 52-week high. The company is scheduled to announce its full results for the fourth quarter and full year on March 4.
