Nordstrom’s earnings are coming as the stock trades near 3-year lows (JWN)

Elaine Thompson/AP Photos

Nordstrom is set to report first-quarter earnings on Tuesday afternoon.
The stock has been a major underperformer, trading near its lowest level since June 2016.
Ahead of the report, a Credit Suisse analyst called the company’s recent full-price store underperformance "alarming."
Watch Nordstrom trade live.

Nordstrom is scheduled to report first-quarter earnings on Tuesday afternoon, and analysts are looking to see whether the retailer can impress the market the way it did last quarter.

While Nordstrom’s shares surged following the retailer’s fourth-quarter report — as full-year earnings guidance topped expectations and digital sales proved robust — the spike was short-lived. The stock has fallen 21% since the last report, and is now trading near its lowest level in three years.

Even with the recent sell-off, the market doesn’t yet fully appreciate the "depth of the sales decline" in Nordstrom’s core premium business, Credit Suisse analysts led by Michael Binetti said in a note to clients last week.

"Overwhelmingly bearish sentiment currently leaves us Neutral," they said. "But our checks have been almost unanimously negative in 1Q."

They called Nordstrom’s full-price store underperformance "alarming," and said they expect same-store sales, a common measure of retailers’ health, to come in flat for the first quarter.

Here’s what Wall Street analysts polled by Bloomberg expect Nordstrom to report:

Revenue: $3.48 billion
Adjusted earnings per share (EPS): $0.43

The broader analyst community is cautious on Nordstrom shares, with 16 of 24 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg saying "hold."

Nordstrom shares have fallen 19% this year.

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