Nordstrom’s profit surges 26%

Nordstrom Inc. said Monday that its fiscal third-quarter profit jumped 26% as sales in all major merchandise categories beat the company’s expectations. The Seattle-based apparel retailer also boosted its earnings forecast for the year.

For the quarter that ended Oct. 28, the retailer’s net income was $135.7 million, or 52 cents a share, up from $107.5 million, or 39 cents, a year earlier.

Quarterly sales rose 12.4% to $1.87 billion. Sales at stores open at least a year, a key measure of retail health, increased 10.7%.

Nordstrom said its results included a stock-based compensation expense of $6.5 million, which lowered the quarterly earnings by a penny a share.

Excluding that expense, it would have beaten Wall Street’s estimate by 2 cents a share. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial had predicted earnings of 51 cents a share on sales of $1.85 billion.

Pete Nordstrom, the company’s president of merchandising, said Nordstrom was making steady progress in improving women’s apparel, from casual and career wear to coats and dresses. “Our women’s apparel business is just starting to turn around for the better,” he said.

Nordstrom raised its earnings forecast for the full fiscal year that will end Feb. 3. It said it expected $2.46 to $2.51 a share, up from its previous guidance of $2.31 to $2.39 a share.

Nordstrom shares sank 59 cents to $47.49 before the results were released, then fell slightly after hours before bouncing back to the closing level.