Macy’s shares tank 17 percent on disappointing holiday sales

Shoppers may be flush, but they’ve also been choosy about where they spend their hard-earned dough.

A trade group recently called this past holiday season the best in six years, with overall sales up by more than 5 percent. But it’s clear that Macy’s, Victoria’s Secret and Kohl’s weren’t on everyone’s holiday shopping list.

Shares of Macy’s fell 18 percent, to $26.11 — their worst one-day slide in history — and dragged down most of the retail sector with them after the largest department store chain said business tapered off in the crucial last push before Christmas. It also slashed its annual sales and earnings forecast.

“The holiday season began strong, but weakened in the mid-December period,” Macy’s Chief Executive Jeff Gennette said in a statement. “And [it] did not return to expected patterns until the week of Christmas.”

Earlier, Macy’s had signaled optimism and raised its sales and earnings guidance for the year.

But the company’s comparable sales rose an anemic 1.1 percent in November and December — compared with a 3.3 percent increase in the previous quarter — as women’s sportswear, sleepwear and fashion jewelry failed to excite consumers.

Rival Kohl’s posted just marginal sales growth of 1.2 percent over the holidays, while Victoria’s Secret continued its three-year slide, reporting Thursday that its comparable sales declined 6 percent during the five-week period ended Jan. 5.

Target and Costco were dragged down despite turning in comparable sales growth of 5.7 percent and 7 percent, respectively, for the holiday season.

“There is a massive retail revolution going on with major market share shifts,” said Gerald Storch of Storch Advisors. “The value players are doing great.”