Market Currents

• Thursday, December 3, 2009

• 08:40 AM Nov. same-store sales (actual vs. Briefing.com estimate), update #2:
  ANF -17% vs. -10%.
  AEO -2% vs. -2.2%.
  CATO 0% vs. -1.5%.
  DDS -11% vs. -8%.
  FRED -3.3% vs. -1.5%.
  GPS 0% vs. -0.2%.
  JCP -5.9% vs. -4.5%.
  JWN +2.2% vs. +2%.
  KSS +3.3% vs. +0.8%.
  M -6.1% vs. -3.2%.
  SKS -26.1% vs. -21%.
  TGT -1.5% vs. -0.6%.
  TJX +8% vs. +9.1%.
  WTSLA -5% vs. -6.6%.
  8 misses, 6 beats, for a total of 18 misses and 7 beats. 4 Comments

• Friday, November 13, 2009

• 16:32 PM Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF +10.7%, but on much lower sales) and J.C. Penney (JCP +6.2%) led a good day for retail, and a couple of discounter IPOs had strong debuts as well. But without rose-colored glasses, the retail outlook still isn't pretty. Comment!
• 09:00 AM Premarket gainers: TSTC +31%. RINO +18%. LXRX +17%. ANF +7%. MDSO +7%. JCP +5%. PLA +4%.
  Losers: LBTYA -9%. LKFN -7%. CADX -6%. TCLP -5%. JWN -4%. Comment!
• 08:05 AM J.C. Penney (JCP): Q3 EPS of $0.30 beats by $0.18. Revenue of $4.18B (-3.2%) in-line. Sees Q4 EPS of $0.70-0.85 vs. $0.82 consensus, sales down 3-5%, and same-store sales down 4-6%. Gross margin +210bps to 40.6%. Shares +4.6% premarket. (PR) 1 Comment
• 00:05 AM Notable premarket earnings: ANF, A, JCP, TK, YGE Comment!

• Thursday, November 5, 2009

• 08:53 AM Same-store sales results #2:
  CATO flat vs. +4%.
  JCP -4.5% vs. -2.6%.
  LTD -4% vs. -3.1%.
  M -0.8% vs. flat.
  JWN +6.5% vs. +2.9%.
  ROST +9% vs. +7.1%.
  SSI -0.1% vs. -4.4%.
  TGT -0.1% in line.
  BKE +4.3% vs. +5.8%.
  WTSLA -1.3% vs. -7.3%.
  ZUMZ -8.9% vs. -6.5%.
  SKS +0.7% vs. -3%. Comment!

• Thursday, October 8, 2009

• 09:12 AM Liz Claiborne (LIZ) inks an exclusive deal with J.C. Penney (JCP), making the department-store operator the exclusive U.S. retailer to carry its namesake brand, while Isaac Mizrahi's Liz Claiborne New York label will move to QVC. Co. says the move will return it to profits in 2010 from a meaningful adjusted operating loss this year (PR). LIZ +16% premarket. Comment!
• 08:44 AM Same-store sales results #3 (actual vs. consensus): ARO +19% vs. +12.3%. CTR +6% vs. flat. JCP -1.4% vs. -3.3%. KSS +5.5% vs. +0.2%. JWN -2.4% vs. -5.9%. ROST +8% vs. +7.3%. SKS -11.6% vs. -11.9%. TGT -1.7% vs. -2.2%. TJX +7% vs. +4.1%. Total positive vs. negative suprises: 21:5. Comment!

• Thursday, September 3, 2009

• 08:40 AM SSS #4: Stage Stores (SSI) -9.5% vs. -5.7%. TJX Cos (TJX) +5% vs. +3.8%. Cato Corp (CTR) +5% vs. +2%. JC Penney (JCP) -7.9% vs. -6.8%. Nordstrom (JWN) -7.6% vs. -9.5%. Target (TGT) -2.9% vs. -5.2%. Comment!

• Friday, August 14, 2009

• 08:03 AM J.C. Penney (JCP): Q2 EPS of $0.00 beats by $0.01. Revenue of $3.94B (-7.9%) in-line. Sees Q3 EPS of -$0.05 to $0.05 vs. consensus of $0.14. Shares -0.3% premarket. (PR) Comment!
• 00:05 AM Notable earnings before Friday's open: ANF, JCP Comment!

• Thursday, August 6, 2009

• 08:44 AM SSS #5: Cato Corp (CTR) -3% vs. +2%. JC Penney (JCP) -12.3% vs. -12.2%. Kohl's (KSS) +0.4% vs. -4%. Nordstrom (JWN) -6.9% vs. -11%. Ross Stores (ROST) +4% vs. +0.8%. Stein Mart (SMRT) -5.5%. Comment!

• Monday, July 27, 2009

• 10:11 AM Retail industry watchers are keeping a close eye on J.C. Penney's (JCP) gutsy move into Manhattan, not normally an enclave for mid-level department stores. Comment!

• Thursday, July 9, 2009

• 08:43 AM SSS #4: Fred's (FRED) +0.2% vs. -0.5%. Gap (GPS) -10% vs. -8.3%. Macy's (M) -8.9% vs. -8.8%. TJX (TJX) +4% vs. -2.6%. JC Penney (JCP) -8.2% vs. -8.6%. Comment!

• Monday, June 29, 2009

• 15:28 PM Odd call, Barron's says of Morgan Stanley's upgrading J.C. Penney (JCP +2.3%) to Overweight, given that highly-regarded President and Chief Merchandising Officer Ken Hicks surprised investors Thursday by saying he's leaving JCP to join Foot Locker (FL). Barron's take: avoid the stock. Comment!

• Thursday, June 4, 2009

• 08:43 AM SSS #4: Macy's (M) -9.1% vs. -9%. Dillard's (DDS) -12% vs. -7%. JC Penney (JCP) -8.2% vs. -9%. Kohl's (KSS) -0.4% vs. -5%. Nordstrom (JWN) -13.1% vs. -14.2%. Comment!