How Did Teen Retailers Fare In Q3?

A positive start to the retail earnings season and the broader market rally set in motion by the U.S. presidential election results have proved salubrious for retail stocks in recent sessions. This is evident from the roughly 10 percent gain notched up the SPDR S&P Retail (ETF) XRT since November 8.

Benzinga looked at how teen apparel retailers, one of the retail categories, fared in the recently concluded quarter. These are our observations:

Teen Apparel Retailers

Teen apparel retailers continue to struggle to make meaningful inroads, squeezed by competitive threat from fashion retail chains such as Zara and H&M. This is despite the consumer spending environment remaining robust. Apparently, discount and deep discount retailers are appealing themselves to consumers than specialty retailers.

Abercrombie & Fitch Co. ANF.

Abercrombie reported Friday third-quarter earnings per share of $0.12, below the $0.20 forecast by analysts. Revenues fell 6.5 percent to $821.7 million, also missing the $831 million consensus estimate on the back of a 6 percent decline in comps, marking the third successive quarter of negative comps growth. The company said it expects comps to see a sequential increase in the fourth quarter.

American Eagle Outfitters AEO.

American Eagle is scheduled to release its third-quarter results before the markets open on November 30. The company is expected to report earnings of $0.41 per share on revenues of $940.94 million. In comparison, the company reported earnings of $0.42 per share on revenues of $919.07 million last year.

Buckle Inc BKE.

Also on Friday, Buckle reported a 35 percent drop in third quarter earnings to $0.48 per share. Net sales fell 14.6 percent to $239.2 million, with comps tumbling 15.3 percent year-over-year. Analysts, on average, estimated earnings of $0.52 per share on revenues of $248.95 million.

Express, Inc. EXPR.

Express is expected to see its third-quarter earnings more than halve to $0.13 per share on an estimated 8.8 percent drop in revenues to $498.75 million. The company is scheduled to report on Thursday, December 1, 2016.

Gap Inc GPS.

Gap reported Thursday after the close with third-quarter adjusted earnings per share of $0.60, in line with estimates. Revenues fell 2 percent year-over-year but squeaked past estimates. Comps fell 3 percent. The company's full year adjusted earnings per share guidance of $1.87–$1.92 was below estimates.

L Brands Inc LB.

L Brands reported this Wednesday a 24 percent earnings per share drop to $0.42 despite 4 percent sales growth to $2.581 billion. The bottom-line results exceeded estimates, while sales were in line. However, the guidance was the sore point. For the fourth quarter, the company predicts earnings per share of $1.85–$2, down from $2.15 last year and the consensus estimate of $2.02.

New York & Company, Inc. NWY.

New York & Company is expected to continue to bleed on the bottom line, although the loss is expected to be narrower than the year-earlier on nearly flat sales performance.

Urban Outfitters, Inc. URBN.

Urban Outfitters, which is due to release its third-quarter results after the market closes on November 22, is expected to report earnings of $0.44 per share, up from $0.42 per share last year. Sales are estimated to grow 5.30 percent to $869.07 million.

At Time Of Writing

• Shares of Abercrombie were plunging 13.17 percent to $14.70.
• American Eagle Outfitters was moving down 2.02 percent to $17.98.
• Buckle has bucked the downtrend and was gaining 1.26 percent to $24.05.
• Express shares were down 2.11 percent to $13.89.
• Gap was sliding 12.08 percent to $27.
• L Brands was adding 0.79 percent to $70.15.
• New York & Company was rising 0.48 percent to $2.11.
• Urban Outfitters was losing 3.19 percent to $37.59.
• SPDR S&P Retail (ETF) was slipping 0.87 percent to 45.34.