Nordstrom’s net sales tank 53% in Q2 due to COVID-19 restrictions

Nordstrom Inc. (NYSE: JWN) published its quarterly financial results on Tuesday that highlighted a 53% decline in net sales in the fiscal second quarter. The company attributed the decline to the Coronavirus pandemic that temporarily closed its stores in recent months. Nordstrom had closed its Seattle-based headquarters due to COVID-19 in April.

Shares of the company were reported about 6% down in after-hours trading on Tuesday. Nordstrom is now exchanging hands at £11.13 per share that translates to roughly 60% decline year to date in the stock market after recovering from an even lower £9.92 per share in March. Investing online in the stock market is easier than you think. Here’s a simple guide to get you started.

Nordstrom Q2 financial results versus analysts’ estimates

According to Refinitv, experts had forecast the company to print £1.81 billion in revenue in the second quarter. For loss per share, they had estimated £1.12. As per its report on Tuesday, Nordstrom fell shy of both estimates posting a lower £1.41 billion in revenue and a higher £1.23 of loss per share in Q2.

Nordstrom said that it swung in the second quarter to £193.81 million of loss that was significantly worse than £107.17 million of net income in the same quarter last year. On a year to date basis, the American luxury department store chain saw a 43% decline in revenue at its off-price business and a broader 58% decline in revenue from its full-price stores.

Amidst the Coronavirus pandemic that has so far infected more than 5.9 million people in the United States and caused over 182 thousand deaths, Nordstrom decided in favour of delaying its Anniversary Sale until the fiscal third quarter. Originally, the sale is held in July, but it started on August 19^th this year.

Nordstrom’s digital sales came in 5% lower in Q2

Consequently, its digital sales came in 5% lower on a year over year basis. Excluding the impact of delayed Anniversary Sale, the Seattle-based company said its online sales were 20% higher versus the comparable quarter of last year.

Nordstrom refrained from giving future guidance on Tuesday, but President Pete Nordstrom expressed confidence that performance will be better in the fiscal second half.

Nordstrom recorded an annual decline of a little under 15% last year. At the time of writing, the American luxury department store chain has a market cap of £1.85 billion.