Dillard's Inc. of Little Rock on Monday reported third-quarter net income of $45.7 million, or $1.19 per share, down 17 percent from $55.2 million, or $1.30 per share, in the same quarter last year.
Same-store sales were down 4 percent, according to the publicly traded department store chain.
Shares of Dillard's (NYSE: DDS) were trading down more than 9 percent Monday to $70.51. Earlier, they fell to $68.06, its lowest point since August 2012.
(Update: Dillard's shares ended the day down 6.4 percent to $72.54.)
"We are disappointed with our third quarter sales performance and in the resulting decline in profit," Dillard's CEO William T. Dillard II said in a news release. "Share buyback remained a high priority, and we repurchased $175 million of stock under our share repurchase program."
Net sales were $1.435 billion, down 1.7 percent from $1.460 billion in the same period last year. Net sales includes the operations of the company's construction business, CDI Contractors LLC of Little Rock.
Excluding CDI's results, total merchandise sales were $1.382 billion, down about 3 percent from $1.422 billion in the same quarter last year.
Earnings missed analysts expectations of earnings per share of $1.20 and revenue of $1.49 billion.
Among merchandise sales, Dillard's said its better performing categories were shoes, juniors' and children's apparel, cosmetics and ladies' apparel. Weaker performing categories were men's apparel and accessories and ladies' accessories and lingerie. Dillard's cited "notable weakness" in home and furniture.
Sales were strongest in the company's eastern region, followed by the western and central regions.
The company is the latest retailer to report disappointing earnings ahead of the holiday shopping season. Macy's, Nordstrom and Kohl's have turned in lackluster quarterly results.
During the period, the company purchased $174.6 million, or 1.9 million shares, of Class A Common Stock under its $500 million share repurchase program. As of Oct. 31, authorization of $117.5 million remained under the program.
In October, Dillard's opened its 155,000-SF store at Liberty Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, and a 126,000-SF store at Fremaux Town Center in Slidell, Louisiana. As of Oct. 31, the company operated 274 Dillard’s locations and 23 clearance centers in 29 states. Total square footage was 50.1 million SF.
