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Nordstrom earnings up sharply in first quarter

Associated Press

Nordstrom Inc., on Tuesday said its first-quarter earnings rose sharply, boosted by higher same-store sales. The results handily beat Wall Street expectations.

Net income increased 52 percent to $104.5 million, or 75 cents per share, from $68.7 million, or 48 cents per share, a year earlier. The prior year’s results included $20.8 million, or 8 cents per share, of interest expense related to retirement of debt.

Total sales rose 8 percent to $1.7 billion from sales of $1.5 billion in 2004, with sales at locations open at least a year increasing 6.2 percent. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial expected the company to earn 70 cents per share on sales of $1.62 billion.

The company said its results exceeded its own February forecast of earnings of 62 cents to 67 cents per share, due to improvement in “merchandise execution, inventory productivity and expense management.”

• Hewlett-Packard Co. reported a slight boost in quarterly earnings, inching past Wall Street’s expectations, but the company’s new leader acknowledged that “overall performance leaves room for improvement.”

For the three months ended April 30, Palo Alto-based HP reported a profit of $966 million, or 33 cents per share, up 9 percent from $884 million, or 29 cents per share, in the second fiscal quarter of 2004.

Excluding special items, including a $107 million tax adjustment, HP would have earned $1.07 billion, or 37 cents per share, up 4 percent from $1.03 billion, or 34 cents per share, in the same period a year earlier.

Quarterly revenue was $21.6 billion, up 7 percent from $20.1 billion in the same quarter a year ago.

• The Home Depot Inc. reported a more than 13 percent jump in first-quarter profit on solid revenue growth. At the same time, the nation’s largest home improvement store chain said Tuesday it is closing 15 of its design centers, possibly affecting 2,000 employees.

The results beat Wall Street expectations, and Home Depot shares rose.

The Atlanta-based company said it earned $1.25 billion, or 57 cents per share, for the three months ending May 1, compared to a profit of $1.1 billion, or 49 cents per share, for the same period a year ago.