Retail Sales Push Higher in February (COST, TGT, KSS, JWN, SKS, SSI, M, GPS, TJX, LTD, ROST, SMRT, WTSLA, BKE, ZUMZ)

Retailers have been posting same-store sales figures for February this morning, and most are posting better-than-expected numbers — in some cases, much better than expected. We have reports from 15 companies: Costco Wholesale Corp. (NASDAQ: COST), Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT, Kohl’s Corp. (NYSE: KSS), Nordstrom Inc. (NYSE: JWN), Saks Inc. (NYSE: SKS), Stage Stores Inc. (NYSE: SSI), Macy’s Inc. (NYSE: M), Gap Stores Inc. (NYSE: GPS), TJX Companies Inc. (NYSE: TJX), Limited Brands Inc. (NYSE: LTD), Ross Stores Inc. (NASDAQ: ROST), Stein Mart Inc. (NASDAQ: SMRT), Wet Seal Inc. (NASDAQ: WTSLA), The Buckle Inc. (NYSE: BKE), and Zumiez Inc. (NASDAQ: ZUMZ).

Some highlights:

• Costco sales rose 8%, but shares are flat shortly before noon.
• Macy’s posted a same-store sales jump of 4.6%, and the company’s shares hit a 52-week high of $38.38.
• TJX’s sales rose 9% and the shares posted a new 52-week high of $37.07.
• Ross Stores’ sales jumped 9% as well, and the company’s stock put up a new 52-week high of $54.27.
• Buckle’s same-store sales rose a whopping 14.8%, and the shares posted a new 52-week high of $48.43.
• Zumiez’s sales rose 14.2% in February and the stock put up a new 52-week high of $33.84.

The biggest change came from Gap Stores. The company posted a same-store sales jump of 4%, when analysts were expecting a shortfall of -1.4%. Shares posted a new 52-week high of $26.00, more than $2/share above the previous high.

Kohl’s and Wet Seal were the only stores on this list to show sales dips, but Wet Seal’s dip was only half what had been expected. Kohl’s was expected to break even, but same-store sales fell -0.8%.

Paul Ausick