Revenge of the malls: Retailers rally after earnings suggest holiday sales may be better than feared
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Retailers that reported on Tuesday flew higher in early trading with Burlington Stores (BURL) skyrocketing 20.36%, Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) jumping 17.44%, and American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) soaring 14.38%.
Of note, ANF reported unexpected quarterly profit and pointed to strong demand for clothing like jeans and dresses with consumers returning to work and going to more social events than in the last two years. Meanwhile, AEO smashed profit expectations and provided a better-than-feared update on inventory management.
Other gainers in the sector included Citi Trends (CTRN) +8.49%, Express (EXPR) +6.70%, Urban Outfitters (URBN) +5.60%, Designer Brands (DBI) +5.11%, Nordstrom (JWN) +4.77%, Gap (GPS) +4.39%, Boot Barn (BOOT) +4.15%, and Macy's (M) +2.95%.
Apparel manufacturers such as Under Armour (UAA) +3.55%, Levi Strauss (LEVI) +2.05%, and Ralph Lauren (RL) +1.80% also gained after the retail earnings rush.
Urban Outfitters (URBN) management divulged an interesting tidbit during its earnings conference call on consumer intentions just ahead of the Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping days.
"We believe that the consumer is quite aware of the fact that there's plenty of inventory out there. And what they're doing is waiting for big promotional events that normally occur on Black Friday and Cyber Monday in order to make their purchases. To support that, we see record amounts of product being put in carts, probably waiting for this coming Friday and next Monday."