Macy's swung back to a profit in its second quarter but suffered yet another sales decline as inflationary weary shoppers rein in spending, with their focus increasingly on buying the essentials.

The company, which also operates upscale Bloomingdale's stores and cosmetics chain Bluemercury, cut its annual sales forecast given what it called “a more discriminating consumer" and the need to roll out more sales to entice them.

The company reported a profit of $150 million, or 53 cents per share, in the three-months ended Aug. 3, topping Wall Street expectations for per-share earnings of 30 cents, according to a survey by FactSet. It's also a rebound from the loss of $22 million, or 8 cents per share, in the same period a year ago.

Yet sales fell nearly 4% to $4.94 billion, from $5.13 billion last year, and below the $5.06 billion that industry analysts were looking for.

Shares slumped 8% before the opening bell Wednesday.