Coronavirus Crushed Macy's, But It's Showing Signs of Life

Late last month, Macy's (NYSE: M) announced that sales plummeted about 45% in the first quarter, after the COVID-19 pandemic forced the department store giant to close all of its stores in mid-March. As a result, the retailer said it was on track to record an operating loss of roughly $1 billion for the quarter, dealing a sharp blow to its turnaround effort.

That said, management did highlight some signs of improvement during the late-May update. In recent days, Macy's has given investors additional reasons to be optimistic that the No. 1 department store chain can survive the current crisis without permanent damage to its business.

At the end of fiscal 2019, Macy's had $4.2 billion of debt, offset by $685 million of cash. This put its balance sheet in much better position than it had been just a few years ago. As recently as 2016, Macy's had over $7 billion of debt. That said, Macy's still began 2020 with more debt than would have been ideal.

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Source Fool.com