Federated's Not Finding a Reason to Celebrate

The holidays haven't been very happy thus far for Federated Department Stores(FD Quote).

The Cincinnati-based company, which owns Bloomingdale's, Macy's and the Rich's department store chains, has seen its sales drop sharply during the holiday season. Like many other retailers, Federated's same-store sales declined in November from the year-ago period. But the company's overall sales also have dropped and its problems have extended into December.

Before it posted November sales, Federated had said that it expected its same-store sales for the November-December time frame to range from flat to a 2.5% decline, compared with the same period last year. After posting November same-store sales that fell 7.4% over last year, Federated said it expected its sales for the two-month period to come in at the low end of expectations -- assuming its December sales were flat. It reiterated the estimate early Monday. ...