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May Stores hits 1Q mark
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May 8, 2000: 9:56 a.m. ET
Retailer's net income slips but earnings per share rise due to share repurchase
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - May Department Stores Co. met fiscal first-quarter forecasts as earnings per share edged up despite a slight dip in net income.
The St. Louis-based operator of such chains as Lord & Taylor and Famous-Barr earned $120 million, or 35 cents a share, for the fiscal quarter ended April 29, compared with $122 million, or 34 cents a share, a year earlier. Share repurchases of $217 million during the quarter helped raise earnings per share in the face of a net earnings decline.
 The results were in line with the forecast of analysts surveyed by earnings tracker First Call.
Most major retailers report on a fiscal year ending in January, and May is the first of those companies to release fiscal first-quarter results. Its sales have been weaker than some of its competitors, which generally had strong sales gains in the quarter. But two major chains -- Kmart Corp. (KM: Research, Estimates), the nation's third-largest retailer, and Gap Inc. (GPS: Research, Estimates), the largest apparel retailer -- warned last week of lower-than-expected earnings for the period, and May's lackluster results could hurt stocks in the sector Monday.
Net retail sales rose to $3.0 billion from $2.9 billion a year earlier, but sales were basically unchanged at stores open in both periods, a closely watched retail measure known as same-store sales. May opened 14 new stores during the quarter, most at its recently acquired Zions Co-operative Mercantile Institution chain in Utah and Idaho, giving May a total of 422 stores.
Shares of May (MAY: Research, Estimates) slipped 1/4 to 28-1/8 in Monday morning trading. 
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