Macy's Outlook Disappoints, Shares Slip

CINCINNATI (TheStreet) -- Macy's(M Quote) narrowed its loss in the third quarter and upped its full-year forecast by as much as 26 cents.

During the quarter, the department store recorded a loss of $35 million, or 8 cents a share, compared with a loss of $44 million, or 10 cents, in the year-ago period.

Excluding restructuring costs, Macy's only lost 3 cents a share, better than the 7 cent loss analysts expected.

Sales slipped 4% to $5.28 billion from $5.49 billion, while same-store sales fell 3.6%.

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The company is beginning to benefit from the national roll-out of its My Macy's localization initiative, with some of its best-performing areas coming from those that were the original pilots for the program.

It also cited strength at its higher-end Bloomingdale's stores, and online.

Looking ahead, management expects full-year earnings in the range of $1.01 to $1.06 a share, better than the prior guidance between 70 cents and 80 cents a share.