US department store chain Nordstrom reported its 2Q2021 numbers on Tuesday with net sales jumping by 101% YoY to $3.57bn, while still down 6% vs. the same period in 2019. The EBIT was reported to be $151mn during the quarter vs. a loss of $370mn during the same period last year, primarily due to higher sales volume and improved merchandise margins. The 2Q net income came at $80mn, up from a net loss of $255mn in 2Q2020, which included after-tax COVID-19 related charges of $14mn. Gross profit as a percentage of net sales came in at ~35% vs. 20.9% last year, primarily due to leverage from higher net sales and lower markdowns. The departmental store also paid its $500mn unsecured 4.0% notes due in October 2021 in July, thus bringing down its annualized interest expense by $20mn. The company ended the second quarter with $1.3bn in available liquidity, including $487mn in cash. Nordstrom also updated its financial outlook for FY2021 based on better than expected results. It raised the revenue growth forecast to more than 35% from 25% and EBIT margin to 3-3.5% from 3%. Erik Nordstrom, chief executive officer of Nordstrom said, “We capitalized on improving customer demand with focused execution, healthy inventory sell-through and continued expense management to deliver strong quarterly results. We remain focused on executing our strategy to win in our most important markets…”
Nordstrom’s 4% 2027s and 5% 2044s were up 0.22 and 0.46 to trade at 105.26 and 101.4 respectively.
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