Macy’s Inc. (NYSE:M) early Tuesday posted mixed fourth quarter earnings results and offered a tepid outlook for 2017, but noted it continues to look into strategic uses for its real estate portfolio.

Written by StockNews.com

The Cincinnati-based retailer reported adjusted Q4 EPS of $2.02, which was $0.07 better than the Wall Street consensus estimate of $1.95.

Revenues fell 4% from last year to $8.52 billion, however, falling short of analysts’ view for $8.61 billion.

Macy’s noted that company-owned stores saw a comparable sales decline of 2.7% in the latest period, while comps on an owned plus licensed basis were down 2.1%. Comparable sales are considered a key indicator of a retailer’s health.

Looking ahead, M forecast adjusted full-year 2017 EPS ranging from $2.90 to $3.15, below Wall Street’s view of $3.18. Revenues are seen falling 3.2% to 4.3%, to about $24.67 to $24.95 billion, in-line with analysts’ $24.8 billion estimate.

Macy’s also expects company-owned comparable sales to fall 2.2% to 3.3% this year, or between 2.0% and 3.0% on an owned plus licensed basis.

To extract value from its real estate portfolio, Macy’s continues to work with Brookfield Asset Management on about 50 identified store locations that it’s considering a wide range of purposes for. Those moves could include retail locations or alternative uses like multifamily housing, hotels, or offices.

The company commented via press release:

“We will be investing for the future in 2017. Looking at the continued challenges in the retail environment and changing consumer shopping behaviors, we know we must evolve our strategy and execute faster,” Lundgren said. “Key to this is enhancing the customer experience in our stores where we are developing and testing concepts that feature new merchandise and entertainment options alongside enhanced technology to make shopping simpler. Additional initiatives that we believe will improve sales trends in 2017 include continued omnichannel improvements, an updated marketing strategy and a simplified pricing structure.”

...Year-to-date, M has declined -9.80%, versus a 5.17% rise in the benchmark S&P 500 index during the same period.

M currently has a StockNews.com POWR Rating of C (Neutral), and is ranked #20 of 67 stocks in the Fashion & Luxury category.