Nordstrom reports strong sales and earnings growth

Nordstrom, Inc. reported net earnings of 200 million dollars or 1.23 dollars per diluted share and EBIT of 299 million dollars or 6.8 percent of sales, for the fourth quarter.

For the fiscal year ended January 29, 2022, net earnings were 178 million dollars and diluted EPS was 1.10 dollars, with EBIT of 492 million dollars or 3.4 percent of sales.

"We advanced our strategic initiatives this quarter, with sequential sales improvement, strong digital growth and a significant increase in profitability," said Erik Nordstrom, chief executive officer of Nordstrom, Inc.

Nordstrom posts 23 percent sales growth in Q4

For the fourth quarter, net sales increased 23 percent versus the same period in fiscal 2020 and decreased 1 percent versus the same period in fiscal 2019. GMV increased 24 percent versus 2020 and was flat versus fiscal 2019.

Full-year revenue, including retail sales and credit card revenues, increased 38 percent compared with fiscal 2020. GMV was flat in the fourth quarter and decreased 4 percent in fiscal 2021 when compared with the same periods in 2019.

Nordstrom banner net sales increased 23 percent against 2020 and were flat and GMV increased 2 percent compared with the fourth quarter of 2019. Net sales for Nordstrom Rack net sales increased 23 percent compared to 2020 but decreased 5 percent versus the fourth quarter of fiscal 2019, a sequential improvement of 320 basis points over the third quarter.

The company’s digital sales in the fourth quarter decreased 1 percent compared with the same period in fiscal 2020 and increased 23 percent compared with the same period in fiscal 2019. Digital sales represented 44 percent of total sales during the quarter and 42 percent of sales for the fiscal year.

The company said, sales in the home, active, designer, beauty and kids categories had the strongest growth compared with the fourth quarter of 2019. Geographically, Nordstrom banner sales in the Southern markets, including Southern California, outperformed the Northern markets by approximately 7 percentage points. Suburban stores continued to be stronger than urban stores in the fourth quarter.

The company made progress on its merchandising strategies throughout 2021, with choice count increasing 50 percent over last year, and more than 300 new brands launched during the year. Additionally, alternative vendor partnership models accounted for 10 percent of Nordstrom banner GMV in the fourth quarter, up from 7 percent in 2019.

Nordstrom expects FY22 revenue growth between 5 to 7 percent

For the fiscal year 2022, the company expects revenue growth, including retail sales and credit card revenues, of 5 to 7 percent versus fiscal 2021, EBIT margin of 5.6 to 6.0 percent of sales and earnings per share of 3.15 dollars to 3.50 dollars.