Dismal holiday sales at other retailers dragged down Nordstrom shares, though not by as much as the 19 percent plunge suffered by Kohl’s.
Nordstrom shares were down as much as 9 percent Thursday and ended the day losing nearly 7 percent, buffeted by a barrage of bad news from department stores.
Macy’s, Kohl’s and Sears all reported dismal holiday sales, while both Macy’s and Sears announced closures of dozens of stores nationwide.
Nordstrom shares closed at $45.56 Thursday, down nearly 9 percent from a year ago.
The high-end department store’s share price had already been battered last month after a Wall Street analyst downgraded its stock.
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Macy’s on Wednesday reported a sales decline of 2.1 percent during the crucial holiday months of November and December in stores open at least a year. It also listed 68 stores it plans to close by midyear, including the one at Everett Mall. Its shares were down about 14 percent Thursday.
Kohl’s shares, meanwhile, plunged 19 percent after it also reported falling holiday sales of 2.1 percent at established stores.
Sears on Thursday reported a precipitous 12 percent to 13 percent drop in same-store sales in November and December. Earlier, it had announced the closure of 150 unprofitable Sears and Kmart stores nationwide, including the Sears at Alderwood mall.
But Sears shares were up nearly 0.3 percent Thursday on the news of the sale of its Craftsman brand to Stanley Black & Decker.
“The negative results from Macy’s and Sears has sent jitters through the rest of the market and raised particular concerns about department stores,” said Neil Saunders, managing director of retail research firm Conlumino.
But, Saunders added, “It doesn’t necessarily follow that Macy’s and Sears are representative of the rest of the market. Both — especially Sears — are laggards and not leaders, so performance from other retailers is likely to be somewhat better.”
Nordstrom, though, has not been immune from the overall retail slump and the onslaught of online shopping. It’s logged lower-than-expected sales and profits several quarters in a row last year, though more recent quarters have yielded cheerier news as the company beat Wall Street expectations. It reports its next quarterly earnings in February.
Nordstrom’s full-line stores continue to see worrying sales fall-offs, even as its online sales grow.
And it will be searching for a new chief technology officer for its expanding digital efforts.
Kumar Srinivasan, whom Nordstrom hired as its CTO less than 10 months ago, is leaving the company effective Friday.
“Kumar has made the decision to leave Nordstrom,” the company said. “His family in India needs his direct support and (he) will be relocating back to India by the end of January.”
Nordstrom said that, with Srinivasan’s departure, it will be taking some time to evaluate the technology leadership structure even as it searches for people to fill several key technology roles.
Costco and Amazon, meanwhile, provided brighter holiday sales news.
Costco’s sales at stores open at least a year were up 1 percent in November and 3 percent in December.
Amazon didn’t reveal any specific sales figures but had said that it had just experienced its “best-ever” holiday season.