Retail Stocks Gain On Better-Than-Expected Earnings From Abercrombie, Sears

The struggling retail industry received a nice lift on Thursday morning following the release of several better-than-expected earnings reports, including those of iconic names like Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) , Sears (NASDAQ:SHLD) , and Tiffany’s (NYSE:TIF) .

Latest Results

Shares of apparel retailer Abercrombie & Fitch—a popular mall-based brand geared towards tweens, teens, and young adults—soared more than 15% in morning trading after the company reported narrower-than-expected losses.

Abercrombie posted a loss of 23 cents per share, which was well ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimate calling for a 34 cent loss. This marked the first quarter in the last five in which Abercrombie surpassed estimates. Quarterly revenues of $779.3 million were also ahead of our $761.6 million consensus estimate, and the company cited strong sales from its Hollister brand as the reason for its improvement.

Jewelry retailer Tiffany & Co. opened more than 2.5% higher after the company also posted improved earnings. Tiffany reported earnings of 92 cents per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 88 cents and growing 9.5% year-over-year. Total revenues gained 3% to $960 million, which beat our consensus estimate of $933 million, and the company noted that strength in the Asia-Pacific region and moving more wholesale diamonds helped these results.

Shares of Dollar Tree (NASDAQ:DLTR) were also moving higher on Thursday morning. The bargain retailer gained more than 8.2% in early trading hours thanks to its strong earnings growth figures. Dollar Tree posted profits of 99 cents per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 87 cents and soaring 37.5% year-over-year.

Guess? Inc. (NYSE:GES) , a clothing and accessories retailer, also soared after better-than-expected results. The stock gained nearly 17% in Thursday morning trading after the company notched earnings of 19 cents per share, crushing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 10 cents and gaining 26.7% from the year-ago quarter. For fiscal 2018, management now expects net revenues to rise between 6% and 7.5%, up from the previously-announced range of 3.5% to 5%.

Specialty home goods retailer Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) reported its latest results last night. The stock is currently up more than 4% after posting positive comps and better-than-expected earnings of 61 cents per share. The company notched comps of 10.1% in its West Elm furniture stores.

Finally, the once-dominant Sears, which has been hanging on for dear life over the past several years, moved more than 7.3% higher in early morning hours after posting narrower-than-expected losses. Sears reported a $2.34 per share loss, which topped the $2.48 share loss that analysts expected. Revenues of $4.37 billion also beat estimates of $4.21 billion, and Sears announced it would close a further 28 Kmart stores.

The recent struggles of Sears have been well-documented, but if you want a better look at the rise-and-fall of one of America’s most iconic retail brands, check out this recent episode of the Shopping For Stocks podcast:

Industry Reaction

Today’s solid results gave the retail industry a much-needed boost. The SPDR S&P Retail ETF (MX:XRT) gained more than 2% in morning trading, while the VanEck Vectors Retail ETF (RTH) was up about 0.35%. Overall, about 65% of the companies in our “Retail and Wholesale” sector were able to meet or surpass earnings estimates this quarter.

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