Cato October Comps, Sales Down 6%; Lifts Q3 EPS Outlook

(RTTNews) - Cato Corp. (CATO) Thursday reported 6 percent decline in same store sales for October, while the sales for the four weeks were down 6 percent to $68.9 million from $73.1 million in the previous year.

For the third quarter the company reported an 8 percent decline in same store sales. Revenue for the quarter declined 7 percent to $207 million from $223.3 million a year ago.

John Cato, chairman, president, and chief executive officer said "October same-store sales were below our expectations. However, markdown sales were less than anticipated. We now estimate third quarter earnings per diluted share will be in the range of $.24 to $.28 versus $.30 last year and up from our previous guidance of $.07 to $.11. Consequently, we will have higher markdown sales in the fourth quarter and will update our fourth quarter guidance in the third quarter earnings release on November 17, 2016"