Not All May Retail Stores Were Weak (COST, KSS, JWN, JOSB, SKS, ZUMZ, PSUN, SHRP)

Despite an earnings warnings out of Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) earlier this week and despite some perceived softness at Wal-Mart (WMT), there were actually some retail winners that posted strong same-store-sales gains above expectations for the month of May.  Here is a sample of some that beat the mark:

Costco (COST)         +7.0% vs. +5.6% est.
Jos. A. Banks (JOSB)     +13.5% vs. +4% est.
JW Nordstrom (JWN)     +6.3% vs. +2.6% est.
Kohl’s (KSS)         +10.5% vs. +6.3% est.
Pacific Sunwear (PSUN)  +6.4% vs. +1.9% est.
Saks (SKS)         +37.9% vs. +14% est.
Zumiez (ZUMZ)         +11.2% vs. +7.3% est.

Sharper Image (SHRP) did not do well on the surface with same-store-sales coming in at -8%, but when you take into consideration the steady double-digit declines and that the First Call estimate was looking for -13.8% then this isn’t quite so bad.  As we have noted on many occasions, sometimes Wall Street will reward disparaged companies that merely do ‘LESS BAD’ than they have in prior periods.  Shares are down more than 1% on very thin volume and somehow shares have managed to come back up close to 52-week highs, so we won’t be looking for a major run today.

Jon C. Ogg
June 7, 2007

Jon Ogg can be reached at [email protected]; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.