Dillard's Inc. continues its recovery from last year's pandemic-related losses, posting 70.8% growth in second-quarter revenue.
Before the markets opened Thursday, the Little Rock-based department store chain reported net income of $185.7 million, or $8.81 per share, for the quarter that ended July 31. In the same quarter a year ago, Dillard's recorded a net loss of $8.6 million, or 37 cents per share.
Wall Street analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters on average expected earnings of 54 cents per share.
Revenue reached $1.57 billion in the quarter, compared with $919 million in last year's second quarter. Dillard's net sales include operations of the company's construction business, CDI Contractors LLC, as well as merchandise sales.
Total retail sales, which exclude CDI, rose 72%. Sales in women's apparel and shoes "significantly outperformed" other merchandise categories during the quarter, the company said.
In the second quarter of 2020, Dillard's saw retail sales tumble 35% as the covid-19 pandemic forced the closure of many of the 285 stores it had at the time. The stores had reopened by June 2, 2020, but operated under reduced hours.
Last year's second-quarter net loss included a net tax benefit of $17.4 million, or 75 cents per share, under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act.
Dillard's shares closed Thursday at $191.30, up $9.15 or 5.02%, on the New York Stock Exchange. In the past year, the company's shares have traded between $25 and $196.16, which it reached in early morning trading Thursday.
"The strong consumer demand we saw in the first quarter continued throughout the second quarter," Dillard's Chief Executive Officer William T. Dillard II said in the earnings report.
"This momentum, combined with our continuing focus on inventory and expense control, produced a sequential record performance," Dillard said.
The retailer did not report same-store sales, or sales at stores open at least a year. Instead, Dillard's released comparisons with 2019 "due to the significant impact of covid-19 on prior year figures," the company said.
Same-store sales for the second quarter of 2021 grew 14% over the same quarter in 2019. Total retail sales rose 12%.
Dillard's reported second-quarter cash flow from operations of $492.4 million, compared with a negative cash flow of $294.5 million in the second quarter of 2020.
"We ended the quarter with $670 million in cash even after repurchasing $112 million of stock," Dillard said. The company ended last year's second quarter with $82.9 million in cash.
Dillard's currently operates 249 department stores and 31 clearance centers across 29 states, as well as its e-commerce business. It closed a Phoenix store in the second quarter.
During the third quarter, Dillard's plans to open a store in Grand Junction, Colo., and close a clearance center in Harlingen, Texas.