For Q4 FY2008 (ended Jan 1 2009), JWN reported a 68% decrease in net income, from $212 million in Q4 2007 to $68 million in Q4 of fiscal year 2008. The weak performance was largely caused by lowered demand for JWN's mid-to-high-end merchandise as the recession pressed consumers to cut down on discretionary spending.
Nordstrom reported a 9.6% decline in same store sales for the month of September. At the same time, the firm announced that it was lowering its earnings per share guidance to $0.32-0.37 from a previous target of $0.50 per share.
Nordstrom's net sales fell 14.1% in June 2008, as same store sales fell 18.6%, partially due to a shift of two major sales to May rather than its historical placement in June. Regardless, the company experienced higher levels of markdowns than it has in past June's and announced that it now expects to slightly miss its previous EPS outlook of $0.65-0.70 for Q2 FY08.[1]
Nordstrom reported a 12% increase in net sales for the month of May, while same store sales increased 10.9% for the month.
Nordstrom fell short of its third quarter estimate for same-store sales growth of 5%, only managing a 3.2% increase in September. The third quarter outlook was reduced to 50-53 cents compared to the previous estimate of 61-64 cents. Unseasonably warm weather in various parts of the country was named the principal culprit for slow sales.
