Hitting The Racks And Collecting Empty Hangers: What's Going On In Retail Sales?

The retail sector is being closely watched Thursday as a handful of companies reported their sales metrics. Here is a recap of some of the notable companies who updated investors with their performance.

L Brands

• Shares of L Brands Inc LB lost more than 11 percent Thursday morning.
• The parent company of Victoria's Secret reported that revenue fell 6 percent from a year ago to $4.424 billion for the 22-week period ending July 1, 2017.
• Comparable sales for the same period fell 9 percent.
• Victoria's Secret decision to exit the swim and apparel categories had a negative impact of around 7 percentage points and 10 percentage points to total company and Victoria's Secret comparable sales, respectively.

Costco

• Shares of Costco Wholesale Corporation COST were trading higher by around 0.50 percent Thursday morning.
• Total sales for the five-week period ending July 2, 2017 rose from $11.33 billion last year to $12.17 billion.
• Excluding gas prices and foreign exchange, June U.S. comps rose 6.3 percent and 6.5 percent for the entire company.

Zumiez

• Shares of Zumiez Inc. ZUMZ were trading higher by more than 4 percent Thursday morning.
• Zumiez reported its June comps rose 5.3 percent.
• Zumiez also updated its second quarter earnings per share outlook from $(0.11)–$(0.06) to $(0.08)–$(0.06).
• Zumiez also guided its second-quarter sales outlook from $185–189 million to a range of $189–$191 million.

Buckle

• Shares of Buckle Inc BKE were trading lower by around 1.50 percent Thursday morning.
• Buckle reported that its total net sales for June fell 5.9 percent from a year ago to $73.6 million.
• During the same period, comparable store sales fell 5.8 percent.

Cato

• Shares of Cato Corp CATO were trading lower by more than 6 percent Thursday morning.
• Cato announced that sales for the twenty-two week period ending July 1, 2017 fell 16 percent from a year ago to $386.5 million.
• The company added that year-to-date same-store sales are lower by 16 percent.

Fred's

• Shares of Fred's, Inc. FRED were trading lower by 11 percent Thursday morning.
• Fred's said that its total sales for June fell 5.3 percent from a year ago to $197.5 million.
• Total comparable store sales for the month also fell 1.6 percent versus a 1.3 percent decrease in the same period a year ago.
• The company did cite the closure of 39 under-performing stores in the quarter and ongoing pressure in its Front Store business.

PriceSmart

• Shares of PriceSmart, Inc. PSMT were trading lower by more than 8 percent Thursday morning.
• PriceSmart said that its net warehouse club sales rose 4.1 percent from a year ago to $230.1 million.
• For the 10-month period ending June 30, net warehouse sales rose 3.1 percent to $2.4292 billion.
• The company also reported its third quarter results on Wednesday: EPS of $0.62 versus $0.67 Est., Sales of $730.3 million vs $734.5 million Est.