Macy’s Inc (NYSE:M) stock fell 0.45% (As on December 12, 11:31:47 AM UTC-4, Source: Google Finance) after the company slashed its annual profit outlook after discovering an employee hid more than $150mn in delivery expenses, sending shares in the US department store chain sliding. The retailer released quarterly results that it had delayed last month pending an investigation into the employee, which it said had concealed tens of millions of dollars of expenses related to customer deliveries over three years. Net income for the third fiscal quarter ended November 2 fell to $28 million, compared with $41 million for the same period last year.

M in the third quarter of FY 24 has reported the adjusted earnings per share of 4 cents, beating the analysts’ estimates for the adjusted earnings per share of 3 cents, according to analysts polled by FactSet. The company had reported the adjusted revenue decline of 2.4 percent to $4.90 billion in the third quarter of FY 24, beating the analysts’ estimates for revenue of $4.74 billion. The comparable sales is down 2.4% on an owned basis and down 1.3% on an owned-plus-licensed-plus-marketplace basis. Sales growth at Macy’s First 50 locations, Bloomingdale’s, and Bluemercury was offset primarily by weakness in Macy’s non-First 50 locations as well as its digital channel and cold weather categories. Macy’s, Inc. go-forward business comparable sales were down 2.0% on an owned basis and down 0.9% on an owned-plus-licensed-plus-marketplace basis. Bloomingdale’s net sales were up 1.4%, with comparable sales up 1.0% on an owned basis and up 3.2% on an owned-plus-licensed-plus-marketplace basis. Key drivers included strength in contemporary apparel, beauty and digital. Bluemercury net sales were up 3.2% and comparable sales were up 3.3% on an owned basis, representing the fifteenth consecutive quarter of comparable sales growth. Customers continued to respond well to the breadth of skincare offerings

Moreover, Credit card revenues, net decreased $22 million, or 15.5%, to $120 million. Net credit losses contributed to the year-over-year decline and were in-line with the company’s expectations. Macy’s Media Network revenue, net rose $5 million, or 13.9%, to $41 million, reflecting higher advertiser and campaign counts.

For fiscal 2024, Macy’s said it now expects adjusted diluted EPS in the range of $2.25 to $2.50, down from its prior outlook of $2.55 to $2.90. Analysts polled by FactSet expect $2.73.

Net sales for the fiscal year are now projected to be between $22.3 billion and $22.5 billion, compared with its previous range of $22.1 billion to $22.4 billion. Four analysts surveyed by FactSet expect $22.18 billion.