Retailers posted weaker-than-expected April sales.
Retailers posted disappointing April sales figures, hurt by rising gasoline prices and weak housing market. The list of companies, missing expectations include Wal-Mart Stores, Federated, Gap, Nordstrom, Pacific Sunwear, Limited Brands, Abercrombie & Fitch and others. Costco Wholesale was one of the very few retailers posting better-than-expected sales. The majority of retail companies reported robust March same-store sales due largely to an early Easter, tipping off investors that their April sales would come below expectations.
Costco Wholesale (
COST: chart) posted 7% increase in its same-store sales in April, beating expectations of 6.3% growth. Costco said it benefited from one extra day of sales, which resulted in a 2% lift. In the four weeks to May 6, total sales rose 12% to $4.94 billion. Wal-Mart (
WMT: chart) posted a 3.5% decline in same-store sales, well below estimates of a 1.1% decrease. The world''s biggest retailer said it expects May same-store sales to rise 1% to 2%.
Most apparel retailers released weak sales figures. Claire''s Stores, Inc. (
CLE: chart) said its April same-store sales fell 6%, missing estimates of same-store sales drop of 2%. Total sales for the four-week period rose 1% to $105 million. Maternity clothing retailer Mothers Work (
MWRK: chart) said its April sales at stores open at least one year dropped 14.8%, missing analyst expectations of a decline by 12%. The retailer attributed the decline to the earlier timing of Easter. Total sales for the period slipped 9.9% to $52.3 million.
Gap (
GPS: chart) said its April same-store sales tumbled 16%, down from expectations of a decline of 7.1%. Total sales fell 11% in the period to $1.09 billion from $1.23 billion. Chico FAS Inc. (
CHS: chart) reported comparable sales drop of 7.3%, compared to the estimate for a loss of 0.6%. Total sales increased 9.8% to $148.7 million from $135.5 million. J. C. Penney Company, Inc. (
JCP: chart) said its comparable department store sales fell 4.7%, compared to the initial guidance to be flat. Total department store sales decreased 2.7%.
Limited Brands Inc. (
LTD: chart) said same-store sales slipped 1% in April, slightly below expectations of 0.6% decline. Total sales rose to $688 million from $653.2 million a year earlier. Federated Department Stores (
FD: chart) posted same-store sales decline of 2.2%, missing its forecast for an increase of 2.5% to 4%. Analysts had been expecting a rise of 1.7%. Total sales dropped 2.1% to $1.84 billion.
| 2007 SAME-STORE SALES |
| Company | Ticker | January | February | March | April | May | June | July |
| Apparel Retailers |
| Abercrombie & Fitch | ANF | -6.00% | -6.00% | 7.00% | -15.00% | | | |
| Aeropostale | ARO | 5.40% | 2.30% | 15.90% | -14.00% | | | |
| AmericanEagle | AEOS | 17.00% | NA | 20.00% | -10.00% | | | |
| AnnTaylor | ANN | -10.20% | -2.90% | 6.10% | -12.80% | | | |
| Bebe | BEBE | 0.80% | -2.20% | 0.10% | -9.00% | | | |
| Buckle | BKE | 7.80% | 4.50% | 10.70% | 1.80% | | | |
| Cato | CTR | -7.00% | 0.00% | 7.00% | -21.00% | | | |
| CharmingShoppes | CHRS | NA | NA | NA | NA | | | |
| Chico's | CHS | -3.50% | -4.30% | 5.20% | -7.00% | | | |
| Children'sPlace, The | PLCE | 3.00% | 5.00% | 7.00% | -2.00% | | | |
| Christopher & Banks | CBK | -4.00% | -13.00% | 0.00% | -12.00% | | | |
| CitiTrends | CTRN | 3.20% | NA | NA | NA | | | |
| Claires | CLE | 3.00% | 1.00% | 8.00% | -6.00% | | | |
| DebShops | DEBS | -3.80% | -2.00% | 6.50% | -4.70% | | | |
| Dillards | DDS | -3.00% | -9.00% | 6.00% | -14.00% | | | |
| DressBarn | DBRN | 8.00% | 0.00% | 12.00% | -6.00% | | | |
| Federated Dept. | FD | 8.60% | 1.20% | 2.30% | -2.20% | | | |
| Gap | GPS | 0.00% | -4.00% | 6.00% | -16.00% | | | |
| Gottschalks | GOT | -1.00% | -3.60% | 6.40% | -5.40% | | | |
| Guess | GES | NA | NA | NA | NA | | | |
| Gymboree | GYMB | 0.00% | 1.00% | 9.00% | -5.00% | | | |
| Hot Topic | HOTT | -6.60% | -2.70% | 3.40% | -9.10% | | | |
| J.C.Penney | JCP | 3.60% | -0.20% | 10.60% | 0.00% | | | |
| Jo-AnnStores | JAS | -6.30% | NA | NA | NA | | | |
| Jos.A.Bank | JOSB | -4.70% | 2.80% | 1.40% | 7.30% | | | |
| Kohl's | KSS | 8.70% | 4.40% | 16.80% | -10.50% | | | |
| LimitedBrands | LTD | 11.00% | 3.00% | 8.00% | -1.00% | | | |
| Men'sWearhouse | MW | NA | NA | NA | NA | | | |
| MotherWorks | MWRK | -6.00% | -4.70% | 3.60% | -14.80% | | | |
| Nordstrom | JWN | 11.00% | 9.10% | 15.00% | 3.10% | | | |
| Pacific Sunwear | PSUN | -7.70% | -5.70% | 14.10% | -6.50% | | | |
| RossStores | ROST | 2.00% | 1.00% | 6.00% | -7.00% | | | |
| Saks | SKS | 11.40% | 25.00% | 10.10% | 11.70% | | | |
| SteinMart | SMRT | -1.90% | -1.90% | 8.00% | -13.90% | | | |
| Talbots | TLB | NA | NA | NA | NA | | | |
| TJX | TJX | 4.00% | 2.00% | 6.00% | -1.00% | | | |
| Drug Stores |
| CVS | CVS | 8.60% | 7.00% | 7.00% | 6.10% | | | |
| Walgreen | WAG | 10.80% | 8.60% | 8.00% | 9.20% | | | |
| Wholesale Stores |
| BJ's Wholesale Club | BJ | 3.50% | 3.00% | 3.10% | -2.10% | | | |
| Costco | COST | 2.00% | 4.00% | 6.00% | 7.00% | | | |
| Family Dollar | FDO | 0.10% | -0.50% | 5.80% | -4.90% | | | |
| Shoe Stores |
| DSW | DSW | NA | NA | NA | NA | | | |
| Payless Shoesource | PSS | NA | NA | NA | NA | | | |
| FinishLine | FINL | NA | NA | NA | NA | | | |
| Discount Retailers |
| Target | TGT | 5.10% | 5.70% | 12.00% | -6.10% | | | |
| Wal-Mart Stores | WMT | 2.20% | 0.90% | 4.00% | -3.50% | | | |
| Pier1 Imports | PIR | -13.20% | -8.40% | NA | NA | | | |
| Sharper Image | SHRP | -25.00% | -24.00% | -29.00 | -11.00% | | | |
| Miscellaneous |
| BigLots | BIG | NA | NA | NA | NA | | | |
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