Excluding drug stores, same-store sales for the month rose 4.8%, 1.4% higher than the 3.4% expected gain. The biggest gainer was Gap Inc.’s (NYSE: GPS) Old Navy chain, which posted a gain of 13%. Wet Seal Inc. (NASDAQ: WTSLA) posted the largest decline, a drop of 9.7%.
Including drug stores, same-store sales rose just 1.7%, slightly below the Retail Metrics estimate of a 1.8% gain.
One bit of bad news in Retail Metrics’ final numbers: the number of stores lowering quarterly earnings per share (EPS) guidance outnumbered those raising guidance by 7 to 2. Kohl’s Corp. (NYSE: KSS), Macy’s Inc. (NYSE: M), Bebe Stores Inc. (NASDAQ: BEBE), The Cato Corp. (NYSE: CATO), Fred’s Inc. (NASDAQ: FRED), Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT), and Wet Seal all lowered guidance while only The TJX Companies Inc. (NYSE: TJX) and Ross Stores Inc. (NASDAQ: ROST) raised guidance. This likely means that sales improvements came at the expense of margins.
Paul Ausick
Get Ready To Retire (Sponsored)
Start by taking a quick retirement quiz from SmartAsset that will match you with up to 3 financial advisors that serve your area and beyond in 5 minutes, or less.
Each advisor has been vetted by SmartAsset and is held to a fiduciary standard to act in your best interests.
Here’s how it works:
1. Answer SmartAsset advisor match quiz
2. Review your pre-screened matches at your leisure. Check out the advisors’ profiles.
3. Speak with advisors at no cost to you. Have an introductory call on the phone or introduction in person and choose whom to work with in the future
Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.
Latest from 24/7
Our expert who first called NVIDIA in 2009 is predicting 2025 will see a historic AI breakthrough.
You can follow him investing $500,000 of his own money on our top AI stocks for free.