(Reuters) -Macy’s Inc on Tuesday raised its forecast for annual sales and earnings, betting on pent-up demand as shoppers vaccinated for the coronavirus return to stores after an year of staying at home and shopping online.
The department store chain, which also owns Bloomingdale’s and beauty store chain Bluemercury, is benefiting from easing restrictions, relief checks and a return to normalcy as people attending dressier events and returning to work update their wardrobes.
The company forecast adjusted earnings per share between $1.71 and $2.12 for 2021, compared with its earlier outlook of 40 cents to 90 cents.
It expects sales between $21.73 billion and $22.23 billion, much higher than the $19.75 billion to $20.75 billion range it forecast earlier.
Sales at owned and licensed stores that have been open for at least an year surged 63.9% in the first quarter, and were better than estimates of 48.1% growth, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
Net sales for the quarter ended May 1 rose to $4.71 billion from $3.02 billion, a year earlier.
(Reporting by Nivedita Balu in Bengaluru;Editing by Vinay Dwivedi)
