The Cato Corp. (CATO) reported a 9% drop in April sales to $77.0 million, from $84.9 million a year ago, while same-store sales increased 1% for the month.
For the first quarter , sales totaled $267.2 million, a 2% decrease from last year's $272.8 million, with quarterly same-store sales decreasing 5%.
The company said the shift of Easter from early April last year to late March this year favorably impacted April sales, while March sales were unfavorably impacted. Because of this shift, the best measure for performance is the combined sales for the two months, which decreased 3% overall and were down 6% to the prior year on a same-store basis.
Looking forward, the firm now sees first-quarter earnings per share in the range of $1.02 to $1.04.
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