The Cato Corporation reported sales results for the five weeks, fourth quarter and full year ended February 3, 2018. For the five weeks, the company reported sales of $54.2 million, a 19% increase from sales of $45.5 million for the four week period ended January 28, 2017. On a comparable five-week basis, total sales decreased 7% and same-store sales for the month decreased 6%.

Sales for fiscal fourth quarter ended February 3, 2018 were $211.1 million, a decrease of 3% over sales of $218.2 million for the fourth quarter ended January 28, 2017. On a comparable 14-week basis, total sales for the quarter decreased 8% and comparable store sales decreased 8% from last year.

For the year, the company's sales decreased 11% to $842.1 million from 2017 sales of $947.4 million. On a comparable 53-week basis, total sales for the fiscal year ended February 3, 2018 decreased 12% and comparable store sales decreased 12% from last year.

The company provided earnings guidance for the fourth quarter and full year. The company now expects the fourth quarter earnings to be a loss of between $0.55 and $0.65 versus a loss of $0.48 last year. This includes revised estimate of a one-time tax expense of between $0.40 and $0.50 as a result of the implementation of the ‘Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017'.

The company's estimate for full year earnings per diluted share is in the range of $0.30 to $0.40 versus $1.72 last year.