Nordstrom said Thursday that its revenue in stores open at least one year rose 0.9 percent in July, helped by strong sales at Nordstrom Rack discount stores.

The results beat predictions by analysts, who expected the department store chain's revenue metric to drop 2.7 percent, according to Thomson Reuters.

Revenue at stores open at least a year is an important measure of a retailer's health because it's unaffected by sales at stores that recently opened or closed.

In the four weeks that ended July 28, revenue at Nordstrom Rack stores open at least a year rose 9.7 percent, while revenue at higher-end Nordstrom stores and its website rose 1.3 percent.

Sales were pressured last month because the company's biggest sale of the year, a 17-day event, started a week later this year than last year. That pushed some of the promotions into August.

Nordstrom said that total revenue rose 1.1 percent to $1 billion in July and climbed 7 percent to $2.92 billion for the second quarter. Analysts expected second-quarter revenue of $2.32 billion.

During the May-July period, the Seattle company's revenue in stores open at least a year rose 4.5 percent.