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Saks expects sales at stores open at least a year to rise by a "mid-to-high single-digit" percentage rate in the quarter that includes the Christmas shopping season.
As previously reported, same-store sales rose 5.8 percent during the quarter. So far this fiscal year, they are up 10.3 percent.
But the rosy forecast follows October sales that missed Wall Street estimates and raised concerns that after months of rebounding luxury sales, the volatile stock markets were giving even well-heeled shoppers pause.
Saks Chief Executive Steve Sadove said in a statement on Tuesday that current world affairs and the economy warranted planning "cautiously."
Saks' gross margin rose 1.6 percentage points to 44.2 percent in the third quarter ended October 29, largely because it was able to sell more items at their full price.
The company is not risking building up too much inventory, lest it find itself forced to slash prices if consumers turn out to be more frugal than expected. Inventory levels will rise at a more moderate pace than expected same-store sales gains.
Saks reported a net profit of $17.8 million, or 11 cents per share, for the quarter, compared with $36.3 million, or 20 cents per share, a year earlier. That was above the 9 cents a sharre Wall Street analysts were expecting, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
(Reporting by Phil Wahba in New York; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)