By Glenn S. Demby, Esq.
This month, the nation’s largest retailers posted their earnings for the first quarter of 2016. And the numbers confirm what we already know: These are tough times for the retail industry. But just how tough are they?
While the monster losses by Macy’s, Target, Kohl’s, Nordstrom and others stole the headlines, they belie the strong performance posted by other parts of the industry. The success came from not just e-commerce giant Amazon.com, but traditional brick and mortar operations like Wal-Mart, TJX and Dollar Stores.
In case you didn’t gather up and synthesize all of the earnings results, you can eyeball the charts below to keep track of the first quarter’s retail winners and losers.
Note: Unless indicated otherwise, comparisons are year-over-year. | |||
COMPANY | LOWLIGHT OF 1Q PERFORMANCE* | ||
---|---|---|---|
Macy’s | Sales fall from $6.23 billion to $5.77 billion, biggest decline since recessionary 2009 | ||
Gap Inc. | Sales drop 6% to $3.44 billion, earnings drop from 56¢ to 32¢ per share—both figures in line with expectations | ||
Kohl’s | After five up quarters in a row, the comeback died with sales falling 3.7% to $3.972 billion | ||
Target | Sales of $16.20 billion below $16.32 billion forecasted by analysts and way below last year’s $17.12 billion first quarter | ||
Sears | Net losses rise from $303 to $471 million, net sales drop from $5.88 billion to $5.39 billion | ||
JC Penney | Instead of projected 38¢ per share losses on sales of $2.92 billion, lose 32¢ per share on sales of $2.81 billion—down 1.6% from last year’s 1Q sales of $2.86 billion | ||
Nordstrom | Sales of $3.249 million is up 2.5% but below $3.293 million projected; meanwhile, earnings down from 66¢ to 26¢ per share | ||
Genesco Inc. | Sales drop 2% to $649 million (vs. $661 million) in part due to divesting of Lids Team Sports | ||
Ross Stores | $3.09 billion in sales is 5% above last year but below $3.12 billion projected; same-store sales increase of 2% is below 2.5% projected | ||
Dillard’s Inc. | Sales decline 4.6% and earnings fall 18.4% from $2.57 to $2.17 per share | ||
Neiman Marcus | Sales fall 2.3% from $1.52 billion to $1.49 billion | ||
J. Crew | Sales decline 3% to $567.5 million and same-store sales decline 7% | ||
Abercrombie & Fitch | Sales of $685.5 million below $709 million expected; earnings per share of 59¢ below 67¢ expected | ||
Lumber Liquidators | Sales fall 10.2% to $233.5 million | ||
Express, Inc. | Flat sales of $502.9 million (vs. $502.4 million in 1Q last year) | ||
Gordmans Stores | Sales drop 2.6% from $145.9 million to $142.2 million | ||
Chico’s | Sales of $643 million below the $668.9 million projected; earnings of 25¢ per share below the 31¢ projected | ||
Claire’s Stores | Sales of $299.6 million down 6.4% ($20.3 million) driven by 5.1% decrease in North America same-store sales | ||
GameStop | Global sales down 4.3% to $1.97 billion—but performance is in line with expectations | ||
Best-Buy | Sales down for third straight quarter, from $8.56 to $8.44 billion—but the 1.3% loss was less than expected | ||
Bon-Ton Stores | Sales decline higher than expected 3.3% to $591 million fueled by 2.9% decline in comparable stores sales | ||
Kirkland’s | Sales grow 9.8% to $129.9 million but not enough—instead of the 10¢ projected, earnings reached only 6¢ per share | ||
Tilly’s Inc. | Sales flat at $120 million; comparable store sales decline 4.1% | ||
DSW | Sales up 3.9% to $681.3 million but below $698.8 million projected; earnings per share of 40¢ projected below 45¢ per share projected | ||
Tiffany & Co. | Sales surprisingly fall 7% to $891.3 million with comparable store sales declining 9% |
Note: Unless indicated otherwise, comparisons are year-over-year. | |||
COMPANY | LOWLIGHT OF 1Q PERFORMANCE* | ||
---|---|---|---|
Amazon.com | 28% increase in sales to $29.1 billion easily beats analysts’ expectations of $27.98 billion | ||
TJX | Sales grow 10% to $7.5 billion with comparable stores sales growing 7% | ||
Wal-Mart | Revenue grows from $114.83 billion to $115.9 billion and earnings reach 98¢ per share, both figures exceeding projections | ||
Dollar Stores | Dollar Tree sales up 133% from $2.18 billion to $5.09 billion–89¢ EPS beats projected 81¢; Dollar General sales up 7% from $4.92 to $5.28 billion | ||
L Brands | Sales rise from $2.51 billion to $2.61 billion and EPS reaches 59¢, both in line with expectations | ||
Home Depot | Sales jump 9% to $22.8 fueled by 6.5% growth in comparable store sales (7.4% increase in US) | ||
Lowes | Revenues of $15.2 billion (vs. $14.13 billion in 1Q last year) and above $14.87 billion projected; earnings also exceed expectations–87¢ vs. 85¢ per share | ||
Ace Hardware | Record 1Q revenues of $1.2 billion, up 4.3%; net income of $26.1 million is $3.8 million below last year but 12% ahead of plan | ||
Big Lots | Sales up 2.5% to $1.31 billion projected; EPS of 79¢ instead of 70¢ projected | ||
Staples | Instead of the $2.62 billion projected, revenues came in at $2.61 billion; and instead of the 55¢ per share expected, earnings came in at 59¢ per share | ||
DICK’S Sporting Goods | Net sales increase 6.1% to $1.7 billion | ||
Foot Locker | Sales increase 3.7% with comparable store sales increasing 2.9%; EPS up 7.8% to $1.39—25th consecutive quarter in which both sales and profits rose | ||
Fred’s, Inc. | Sales up 8% to $549.55 million | ||
Urban Outfitters | Instead of the projected 0.5% decline, existing store sales rose 1%; revenues up 3% to $762.2 million, beating Wall Street projections of $759.4 million | ||
American Eagle Outfitters | Total sales up 7%, comparable store sales up 6%; EPS increases 47% to 22¢ per share | ||
Ulta Salon, Cosmetics and Fragrance, Inc. | Sales increase from $868.1 million to $1.073 billion; instead of the $1.29 projected, EPS was $1.45 per share | ||
Williams-Sonoma | Sales grow 6.5% to $1.098 billion driven by higher comparable brand revenues; EPS of 53¢ beats projected 50¢ |