Macy’s money hide and seek

Publicly held companies are supposed to compete on a generally level playing field.

Macy’s Inc., in its latest fourth-quarter and year-end earnings call, however, announced that it no longer will report sales on a monthly basis. Instead, shareholders – and people in the retail and home textiles industries alike – will have to wait for quarterly sales figures.

And when making its quarterly reports of sales and earnings, the company plans to do without forecasts.

It was pointed out in a column on TheStreet that this is not the most confidence-building way for a public company to conduct itself.

Macy’s evp and cfo Karen Hoguet, speaking to analysts on the earnings call, said the $26 billion retailer was not out to hide anything. Rather, she explained, the company wants to avoid the vague and confusing comparisons that crop up when monthly sales in the current year are affected by such variables as shifts in holidays and promotions.

Just one thing – all the other retailers have to deal with the same basic calendar shifts.

What’s vague about that?