Cato records 14 percent rise in January sales

The Cato Corporation has reported sales of 54.9 million dollars for the four weeks ended January 31, 2015, an increase of 14 percent from sales of 48.1 million dollars for the four weeks ended February 1, 2014. Same-store sales for the month increased 14 percent from last year.

Sales for fiscal fourth quarter ended January 31, 2015 were 237.8 million dollars, an increase of 10 percent from sales of 215.5 million dollars for the fourth quarter ended February 1, 2014. For the quarter, same-store sales increased 8 percent from last year. For the year, the company's sales increased 7 percent to 977.9 million dollars from 2013 sales of 910.8 million dollars. For the year, same-store sales increased 4 percent from 2013.

“January same-store sales results were positively impacted due to adverse weather in the prior year,” stated John Cato, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, adding, “We continue to expect fourth quarter EPS results will be within our previous range of 0.25 dollars to 0.29 dollars versus 0.13 dollars last year. For the year, we continue to expect diluted earnings per share will be within the range of 2.07 dollars to 2.11 dollars versus 1.86 dollars last year.”

The company will release fourth quarter and fiscal year 2014 earnings on Thursday, March 19, 2015. During January, the company opened one store in Bullhead City, AZ. During the fourth quarter, the company opened six stores, relocated two stores and closed three stores. For the fiscal year ended January 31, 2015, 33 new stores were opened, relocated four stores and closed seven stores. As of January 31, 2015, it operated 1,346 stores in 32 states, compared to 1,320 stores in 32 states as of February 1, 2014.