FeedPosted Nov 25th 2009 12:00PM by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed)
Filed under: Wal-Mart (WMT), Walgreen Co (WAG), Gap Inc (GPS), RadioShack Corp (RSH)
If Thanksgiving is a bird, a beer and a football game for you, prepare to have your thinking challenged. Many retailers are looking to get a head start on Black Friday this year, opening a day early, some of them for the first time. Most Old Navy Stores (GPS) will open their doors on Thursday, along with Wal-Mart (WMT), Toys "R" Us, RadioShack (RSH) and Walgreen's (WAG). Rather than bet solely on Friday, retailers are looking to eke every last dime they can out of the holiday season this year.
The National Retail Federation expects holiday spending to drop 1% this year to $437.6 billion. "Retailers need to be competitive," says NRF spokeswoman Ellen Davis. "There's a lot riding on the success of November and December retail sales."
Continue reading Retailers can't wait for Black Friday, open Thursday
Posted Nov 21st 2009 9:40AM by Trey Thoelcke (RSS feed)
Filed under: Earnings reports, Dell (DELL), Target Corp. (TGT), Gap Inc (GPS)
Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage on BloggingStocks:
- ADC Telecommunications Inc. (ADCT) posted a surprise net loss for Q4 and predicted a loss in Q1.
- BJ's Wholesale Club Inc. (BJ) shares fell after Q3 earnings met expectations and offered guidance for FY.
- Dell Inc. (DELL) posted lower-than-expected Q3 earnings, prompting a sell-off of shares.
- Foot Locker Inc. (FL) said Q3 earnings slumped more than analysts' forecast, sending shares lower.
- Gap Inc. (GPS) reported growth of EPS and revenue in Q3 and announced a share buyback program.
Continue reading Earnings highlights: Dell, Foot Locker, Gap, Lowe's, Saks, Target ...
Posted Nov 19th 2009 7:40AM by Melly Alazraki (RSS feed)
Filed under: Before the bell, Microsoft (MSFT), Dell (DELL), Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), Market matters, JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Sears Holdings (SHLD), Gap Inc (GPS), Economic data, salesforce.com inc (CRM)

U.S. stock futures declined Thursday morning, pointing to a lower start on Wall Street as investors started weighing the possibility that stocks have run up too far and too fast ahead of the economy -- the economic recovery may not be as robust. The retail sector is in focus with several retailers reporting earnings. The tech sector could also experience pressure.
On Wednesday, stocks ended lower with technology shares leading the decline, and the Nasdaq composite down nearly half a percent. Results from Salesforce.com (CRM) and Autodesk (ADSK) weighed on the sector as Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) and Microsoft (MSFT) were among the leading decliners in the Dow.
Continue reading Before the bell: Futures lower on economic concerns; retail, tech in focus
Posted Nov 15th 2009 12:30PM by Trey Thoelcke (RSS feed)
Filed under: Earnings reports, Forecasts, Home Depot (HD), Target Corp. (TGT), Sears Holdings (SHLD), Gap Inc (GPS)
On the heels of last week's better-than-expected earnings results from retailers Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (ANF), Kohl's Corp. (KSS), Macy's Inc. (M), Urban Outfitters Inc. (URBN) and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) -- as well as disappointing numbers from Blockbuster Inc. (BBI) and JCPenney Co. Inc. (JCP) -- the coming week will bring results from more shopping- and strip-mall favorites.
TJX Companies Inc. (TJX), which operates T.J. Maxx and Marshalls stores in the U.S., settled a class action, announced share buybacks and raised its guidance in the third quarter. For the three months that ended in October, analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect TJX to report earnings of $0.80 per share, up from $0.57 in the same period of last year. Revenue is expected to total $5.3 billion, or 10.2% higher than a year ago. So far, the full-year forecast is for a profit of $2.59 per share (+22.3%) on $20.0 billion (+5.5%) in sales.
Continue reading The week in preview: More retail earnings: Gap, Home Depot, Sears, Target ...
Posted Nov 13th 2009 6:00PM by Steven Mallas (RSS feed)
Filed under: Earnings reports, Aetna Inc (AET), Gap Inc (GPS), Kohl's Corp (KSS), Abercrombie and Fitch (ANF), American Eagle Outfitters (AEO)
Back in August, I discussed my amazement at Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF). The stock just didn't seem to be acting in a manner which reflected the fundamentals of the business it represents. Well, my bout of amazement continues, because shares of the retailer are up 9% as of this writing on the latest earnings report. One that didn't impress me.
For the third quarter, Abercrombie made, on a reported basis, 44 cents per diluted share compared to 72 cents per diluted share in the year-ago period. After adjustments, earnings came in at 30 cents per share. Okay, that profit drop is bad enough, but wait till I get to the really bad stuff. Which would be revenues. Total sales declined 15%, but same-store sales were even worse: they plunged off the proverbial cliff, falling 22%.
Continue reading Abercrombie & Fitch: A momentum play after Q3 release?
Posted Nov 7th 2009 11:20AM by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed)
Filed under: Costco Wholesale (COST), Gap Inc (GPS), Federal Reserve, Recession
Consumer borrowing fell for the eighth straight month in September. This record-setting streak is due largely to tightening by lenders, unemployment and the conservative preference to pay down debt rather than spend. This widespread fit of fiscal responsibility, economists fret, could prevent a recovery from taking root, since consumer spending is responsible for 70% of the U.S. economy. This conventional thinking, of course, overlooks the fact that an eventual increase in spending that isn't fueled by consumer spending will yield a recovery that's more likely to last.
According to the Federal Reserve, borrowing fell at an annual rate of $14.8 billion in September -- it's biggest drop since July and much larger than the $10 billion predicted by economists. The behavior is exactly what you'd find in people worried about losing their jobs or focused on rebuilding safety funds and investment portfolios. Those who want to borrow are finding banks won't be complicit this time, as they clamp down on lending practices.
Continue reading Consumer spending falls victim to debt repayment
Posted Nov 6th 2009 11:40AM by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed)
Filed under: Wal-Mart (WMT), Target Corp. (TGT), Costco Wholesale (COST), Gap Inc (GPS), Nordstrom, Inc (JWN)
There's a chill in the air and a slight up-tick in confidence. Holiday discounts are coming a bit earlier, too. For retailers, this has been a great combination, leading to the second consecutive month in which retail sales increased.
This follows more than a year of drops. Consumers aren't going crazy, but they are loosening their wallets a little bit. Consumer spending accounts for 70% of the U.S. economy, and the coming holiday season is where the action is -- for the retail sector and, consequently, for everyone else.
Continue reading Retail sales: Signs of life, but not yet a rising tide
Posted Oct 19th 2009 9:30AM by Jim Cramer (RSS feed)
Filed under: Apple Inc (AAPL), Market matters, International Business Machines (IBM), Gap Inc (GPS), Cramer on BloggingStocks
TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says that from a chart perspective, this could be about the greatest bull market in history. Chart to chart to chart this weekend and all I see, except for a couple of health maintenance, medical device and drug companies plus some fertilizer stocks, is just a remarkable and, yes, unheralded run in every single group.
Some of them are of the pure recovery style: every oil and gas, now including refinery, as the crude price inches back to $100 and natural gas has started its way back up; the life insurers that were left for dead when we decided that all commercial mortgages would be destroyed taking them with the bad loans; the overly-indebted companies like
Textron (NYSE:
TXT) (
Cramer's Take) that have roared back without any real support from anyone.
But others are just monumental. Anything paper or wood or glass. These aren't quitting.
Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: A monumental run
Posted Sep 28th 2009 4:20PM by Tom Taulli (RSS feed)
Filed under: Gap Inc (GPS), Small business

Back in the late 1960s -- when the hippie movement was in full force -- Donald Fisher
started a blue jeans store in San Francisco. Yes, it eventually turned into a retail empire, called
The Gap (NYSE:
GPS). The company now has more than 3,100 stores and $14.5 billion in revenues.
Unfortunately, Fisher died over the weekend. He was 81.
When Fisher started his business, he had no experience in the retail trade. Instead, his background was in real estate.
But this was no problem. Like any good entrepreneur, he saw a mega opportunity -- that is, a change in the fashion habits of the masses. After all, the Gap stands for "generation gap." And the Baby Boomers were certainly ripe customers -- and willing to pay.
Continue reading Donald Fisher, legendary retail giant, dies
Posted Sep 4th 2009 9:30AM by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed)
Filed under: Target Corp. (TGT), Gap Inc (GPS), Abercrombie and Fitch (ANF), Housing, Recession
Retail sales were down for the twelfth month in a row in August, according to an Associated Press report. Consumers stayed focused on what they need rather than what they want, as unemployment remains high and even those employed worry about the future of their jobs.
The silver lining, though, is that the coming holiday season might not be as bad as many thought.
Some retailers actually showed gains. TJMaxx (NYSE: TJX) and Old Navy, a Gap (NYSE: GPS) company, for example, saw year-over-year sales increases, though upscale stores generally sustained declines. The action on the discount side could be an early sign that the consumer is ready to play.
Continue reading Twelve straight months of retail sales declines
Posted Aug 21st 2009 1:20PM by Steven Mallas (RSS feed)
Filed under: Earnings reports, Gap Inc (GPS), Abercrombie and Fitch (ANF), American Eagle Outfitters (AEO)
Aeropostale (NYSE: ARO), a retailer that competes with Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE: ANF), American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE: AEO), and Gap (NYSE: GPS), posted what I thought was a superb second-quarter earnings summary on Thursday after the bell. The figures were very appealing, and I would've expected a better after-hours reaction by the stock to the news. Then again, the market can never be predicted. It will do whatever the heck it wants.
Net sales increased 20%. Not bad, am I right? Wait, check this out. Earnings per share came in at 57 cents, compared to the 31 cents reported in the year-ago quarter. According to Reuters, that was a penny ahead of expectations. But that penny beat on the bottom line isn't what impresses me the most. It's the strong per-share profit expansion that I find compelling.
Continue reading Aeropostale posts a sharp increase in Q2 profit
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