Why Nordstrom Stock Tanked 10% at the Open Today

Shares of retailer Nordstrom (NYSE: JWN) fell sharply at the open of trading on Wednesday, quickly losing 10% of their value. The company's first-quarter 2021 earnings, released after the market closed on Tuesday, was the causal factor.

First-quarter 2021 sales rose 44% from the year-ago period. Sales improved 7 percentage points sequentially from the fourth quarter of last year as well, showing continued improvement from the worst of the coronavirus shutdowns.

Online sales increased by 23%, to reach 46% of total sales. While all of that sounds great, 2020 was obviously an unusual year and investors were looking to see how Nordstrom performed relative to the first quarter of 2019. Unfortunately, looking back to the period before the pandemic, sales were off by 13%, showing that the department store is still struggling to remain relevant with consumers.

Source Fool.com