Macy's (M) beat muted Q1 expectations as a buyout bid lingers in the background.

On Tuesday morning, the department store chain reported revenue of $4.85 billion, down 2.7% compared to last year and slightly higher than Wall Street's estimates of $4.81 billion. Its adjusted earnings per share of $0.27 also topped the $0.14 expected.

Comparable sales fell 1.2% at company-owned stores, less than the 3.01% decline Wall Street predicted.

"We do believe that we're getting traction, it's still early days ... We're still practicing the changes in the stores from a staffing and selling and service standpoint, there are a number of changes that are still not implemented," Macy's CFO and COO Adrian Mitchell told Yahoo Finance over the phone.

This is the first quarterly report since CEO Tony Spring, who took the helm earlier this year, rolled out the "Bold New Chapter" initiative for the company. The overall strategy includes plans to close 150 underperforming stores over the next three years, improve the remaining stores and product assortment, and invest in digital sales.

In the quarter, the remaining focus stores saw same-store sales growth of 0.1%, compared to the 4.5% drop at the closing locations.

In a call with investors, Spring said the addition of "new brands like Donna Karan or the expansion of brands like French Connection, Free People, and Karl Lagerfeld and Hugo Boss" helped boost sales at those focus stores. The 50 stores that received investments so far saw a 3.3% lift in sales.

The company now expects to end 2024 with net revenue in a range of $22.3 billion to $22.9 billion. Same-store sales are expected to be between a 1% year-over-year drop to a 1.5% increase. That's compared to the previous expectation of a roughly 1.5% drop to a 1.5% increase.

Adjusted earnings also got a boost, projected to end the year in a range of $2.55 to $2.90, compared to $2.45 to $2.85 previously.

"We are not making any assumption for the improvement in the consumer situation," Mitchell said of the difficult consumer backdrop. "We continue to believe that there's a lot of uncertainty, inflation continues to remain stubborn."

Wall Street remains skeptical of the company's future.

Prior to the report, UBS analyst Jay Sole said it is "unlikely" that the new initiatives will make a difference.

In a note to clients, Sole wrote, "These initiatives are not part of our base case. However, they are part of our upside scenario." He identified the three key areas as "Macy's Backstage, Macy's small store initiative, and its omni-channel service improvements, both online and in-store."