Federated Fourth-Quarter Profits Decline But Beat Forecasts

Earnings Scorecard
Actual	Estimated*	Year-Ago
$2.15	$2.10	$2.04

Federated Department Stores (FD Quote) said Tuesday its fourth-quarter profits fell below the company's expectations, although earnings per share beat the Street's expectations by a nickel.

The upscale department store retailer, based in Cincinnati, Ohio, said fourth-quarter earnings, excluding asset impairment and restructuring charges, were $332 million, or $2.15 a share, down from $448 million, or $2.04 a share, in the same period last year. According to First Call/Thomson Financial, 18 analysts expected fourth-quarter earnings of $2.10 a share.

Revenue for the 14 weeks ended Feb. 3, 2001 was $6.12 billion, compared with $5.97 billion in the comparable 13-week period ended Jan. 29, 2000. ...