Macy's reports 20% fall in comparable sales, eyes surging virus cases

[November 19, 2020]    (Reuters) - Macy's Inc <M.N> reported a more than 20% drop in quarterly comparable on Thursday and said it expects that to continue into the fall season, signaling a tough holiday season for the coronavirus-battered department store chain.

A Macy's store is pictured during the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., October 19, 2020. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri

The retailer's shares fell 3% in premarket trading. Its stock has lost nearly half its value in a tumultuous year in which it has had to lay off thousands of workers and suffer through plunging sales due to outlet closures.

Macy's Chief Executive Officer Jeff Gennette said the company was keeping an eye on a new wave of COVID-19 cases across the United States and the potential impact on its business.

The country has been regularly recording over 100,000 daily COVID-19 infections over the last two weeks, raising fears that the spiking numbers will keep people away from already sales-battered retail stores heading into the holidays.

Macy's said it expects its comparable sales of owned and licensed stores to fall by a low- to mid-20s percentage in the fall season.

Net sales fell to $3.99 billion from $5.17 billion in the third quarter ended Oct. 31, but beat analysts' estimates of $3.86 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

The company posted an adjusted net loss of $60 million, or 19 cents per share, compared with earnings of $21 million, or 7 cents per share, a year earlier.

Analysts had expected a loss of 79 cents per share.

(Reporting by Uday Sampath in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)

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