Macy's (M) Stock Falls, Weak Black Friday Numbers Hurt Retail Stocks
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Macy's (M) - Get Report are down 2.43% to $39.02 in afternoon trading on Monday as disappointing Black Friday sales numbers hurt the retail sector in trading today.
Analytics firm RetailNext reported that overall sales dropped 1.5% year over year on Black Friday, while average shopper spending also declined 1.4%.
Analysts at ShopperTrak reported sales from Thursday and Friday totaled about $12.1 billion, according to Business Insider.
Online sales over the holiday weekend totaled $4.47 billion, an 18% increase over the year ago period, according to Adobe Digital Index.
TheStreet Ratings team rates MACY'S INC as a Hold with a ratings score of C. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation:
We rate MACY'S INC (M) a HOLD. The primary factors that have impacted our rating are mixed - some indicating strength, some showing weaknesses, with little evidence to justify the expectation of either a positive or negative performance for this stock relative to most other stocks. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its notable return on equity, reasonable valuation levels and expanding profit margins. However, as a counter to these strengths, we also find weaknesses including deteriorating net income, generally higher debt management risk and weak operating cash flow.
Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows:
- The return on equity has improved slightly when compared to the same quarter one year prior. This can be construed as a modest strength in the organization. Compared to other companies in the Multiline Retail industry and the overall market, MACY'S INC's return on equity significantly exceeds that of both the industry average and the S&P 500.
- 39.79% is the gross profit margin for MACY'S INC which we consider to be strong. It has increased from the same quarter the previous year. Regardless of the strong results of the gross profit margin, the net profit margin of 2.00% trails the industry average.
- The debt-to-equity ratio is very high at 2.01 and currently higher than the industry average, implying increased risk associated with the management of debt levels within the company. Along with this, the company manages to maintain a quick ratio of 0.09, which clearly demonstrates the inability to cover short-term cash needs.
- Net operating cash flow has significantly decreased to -$120.00 million or 191.60% when compared to the same quarter last year. In addition, when comparing to the industry average, the firm's growth rate is much lower.
- You can view the full analysis from the report here: M
Any reference to TheStreet Ratings and its underlying recommendation does not reflect the opinion of Jim Cramer, TheStreet or any of its contributors.