The Buckle, Inc. (NYSE:BKE) has been continuing with sluggish comparable-store sales (comps) performance. Comps for the four-week period ended May 27, 2017 fell 9% year over year, continuing the declining trend – 3.5% in April, 10.1% in March, 23.2% in February and 17.6% in January.
The company generated net sales of $61.5 million in May, down 8.8% year over year. Notably, net sales decreased 3.9% in April, 10.1% in March, 23.3% in February and 17.2% in January.
Comps for the 17-week period ended May 27, 2017 declined 11.9%, while net sales decreased by 12% to $273.7 million.
Further, Buckle’s disappointing performance was visible from its dismal run in the index. Shares of this retailer of casual apparel, footwear and accessories have plunged 25% year to date, wider than the Zacks categorized Retail-Apparel/Shoe industry’s decline of 20.1%.
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Sales at the company’s Men's category, which contributed nearly 48% to Buckle’s May sales, tumbled 6.5% year over year. Moreover, the company has not been able to turn the performance of struggling Women’s business around. Sales in the Women’s category, which represented 52% of the company’s monthly sales, slumped 13% year over year.
On a combined basis, accessory sales, which constituted nearly 9.5% of the company’s May sales, dropped 9.5%, while footwear sales, which accounted for almost 6.5% of net sales, inched up 1%.
As of Jun 1, 2017, Buckle operated 462 retail stores across 44 states.
Apart from Buckle, Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) , Zumiez Inc. (NASDAQ:ZUMZ) and L Brands, Inc. (NYSE:LB) came out with comparable sales results for the month of May. While comparable sales for Costco and Zumiez increased 4.1% and 3.3%, respectively, that of L Brands declined 7%.
Buckle currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
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