Sales Disaster Returns to the Gap

Gap said that net sales for the four-week period ended March 1, 2014, were $929 million, compared with net sales of $966 million for the four-week period ended March 2, 2013. This translates to a drop of 7% versus a 3% gain in February of last year.

The company was not very forthcoming about the poor sales. Glenn Murphy, chairman and chief executive officer, said, “While February was clearly a difficult month, we remain focused on executing our global priorities.”

Gap’s press release showed that more than 450 stores experienced closures during February due to weather, and the company tried to dodge the problem further by saying that “February typically represents the smallest month of the first quarter.” In short, no cut in guidance is coming — “The management team continues to focus on delivering its full year goals, as outlined during last week’s quarterly earnings announcement.”

In the past we would have expected it was old Navy that led the way lower. Not this time. The company segments showed that its Gap segment shares posted a negative 10% comparable figure this February, as the worst component of the stores. This compared to positive 2% last year.

Other segment sales were weak as well. Banana Republic was negative by 7%, down from -5% last year. Old Navy’s comparable store sales were negative by 6%, down all the way from a gain of 6% last year.

Gap Shares closed down 0.75% at $42.29 on Thursday, followed by a drop of almost 4% more in the after-hours session to $40.70. This stock has traded in a range of $34.27 to $46.56 in the past 52-weeks.