Dillard’s Inc. of Little Rock (NYSE: DDS) reported Thursday its second-quarter profit of $74.5 million, down 43% from the same quarter last year.
The department store chain also reported a 5% drop in total retail sales to $1.426 billion in the 13-week quarter that ended Aug. 3, marking the sixth straight quarter of sales declines.
“We are disappointed with our weak performance in the second quarter,” Dillard’s CEO William T. Dillard II said in a statement. “While the consumer environment remained challenged, our expenses were up, squeezing our profitability. We are working to address this. We ended the quarter with over $1 billion in cash and short-term investments.”
Dillard’s earnings per share of $4.59 for the second quarter was down 42.5% from the same period a year ago.
The results didn’t meet Wall Street’s expectations. The average estimate of three analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $5.91 per share.
For the quarter, same-store sales fell by 5%, a key metric for retailers.
Net sales, which include the company’s construction business, CDI Contractors LLC, were $1.49 billion compared with $1.57 billion in the same period a year ago.
Net sales also didn’t beat Street forecasts. Three analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $1.53 billion.
In June, Dillard’s closed its 120,000-SF Eastwood Mall Clearance Center in Niles, Ohio.
Dillard’s operates 273 Dillard’s stores, including 28 clearance centers, across 30 states.
Its stock price fell more than 8% to $356.23 Thursday morning. Year to date, shares were down 12%.
The Associated Press contributed information to this report.
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