Rebounding from last year's first-quarter losses, when the pandemic forced the closure of many of its stores across the country, Dillard's Inc. on Thursday posted a profit of $158.2 million in the quarter that ended May 1.
Reporting after the markets closed Thursday, the Little Rock-based department store chain's profit equaled $7.25 per share. In the same quarter a year ago, Dillard's recorded a net loss of $162 million, or $6.94 per share.
Dillard's net income included an after-tax gain of $19.2 million or 88 cents per share related mainly to the sale of three store properties.
Thursday's results blew past Wall Street analysts' average earnings estimate of $1.54 per share.
Revenue grew 69% to $1.33 billion. 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, went up 73% to $1.3 billion. Apparel across the board, including women's accessories and lingerie, was the strongest-performing category in the quarter.
"There are a lot of good things to say about this quarter," chief executive William Dillard II said in the earnings report. "As vaccinations increased, stimulus money was released and warmer weather arrived, we saw sales increase over [pre-pandemic] 2019 levels, with momentum continuing throughout the quarter."
"We are pleased to report record performances in gross margin and earnings per share," Dillard said.
Retail gross margin, which excludes CDI, improved to 42.7% from 12.8% for the previous year. Dillard's management attributed that to better inventory management and customer demand, which led to decreased markdowns of merchandise.
For a pre-pandemic comparison, the company posted retail gross margin of 37.8% in the first quarter of 2019.
Dillard's reported cash flow from operations of $304.2 million, compared with $111.1 million of cash used in operations a year ago. The company ended the quarter with $616 million in cash, up 780% from last year's $70 million.
The chain did not report same-store sales, or sales at stores open at least a year, since so many stores were closed by state or local orders during last year's first quarter.
Dillard's operates 250 department stores and 31 clearance centers across 29 states, as well as its e-commerce business. It closed and sold a store in a Baton Rouge mall during the quarter.
The company bought back $58.8 million of Class A common stock during the quarter under a $500 million share repurchase program. Authorization of $114.3 million in repurchases remained under the plan as of May 1.
Dillard's shares rose $4.95 or 5.09%, to close Thursday at $102.12 on the New York Stock Exchange. The company's shares have traded between $21.50 and $128 in the past year.