- Macy's (NYSE:M) is the toast of the retail town after showing strong comparable store sales growth in Q3 at both its Bloomingdale's and Macy's chains amid overall weak mall traffic.
- A push by management to add departments licensed to third parties seems to have worked splendidly. If the licensed sales are included, comp growth was 4.6% in Q3. Once upon a time the Ron Johnson-led Sears department store chain was going to re-invent retail with the "shops" concept, but Macy's used a subtler and more strategic approach to licensing.
- M +6.4% premarket with the company's "confidence" on Q4 marking it as a retail outlier.