Anyone notice how quiet everyone is about holiday retail sales?
I own CROX and the stock finally started to get some traction last week. I think retail stocks will move up nicely this week.
Great Christmas For Wal-Mart, Other Retailers
Matthew Kirdahy, 01.02.07, 1:05 PM ET
Wal-Mart Stores, considered the bellwether in the retail sector, reported healthy December sales that seemed contagious throughout the sector. Analysts said holiday shoppers finally came around and this spending is expected to snowball into the early part of the New Year thanks to the impersonal gift card.
On Saturday, the U.S.’s largest wholesale retailer said same-store sales rose 1.6% between Nov. 25 and Dec. 29, beating the company’s forecast for flat to 1% growth.
Wal-Mart (nyse: WMT - news - people ), based in Bentonville, Ark., will announce its full December sales report Thursday.
The International Council of Shopping Centers is projecting a 2.5% increase in same-store sales for retailers during the combined November-December period.
Wal-Mart’s better-than-expected performance comes on the heels of a November that marked the retailer’s first sales decline in a decade. That month’s 0.1% fall was attributed to slow clothing sales, due to continued unseasonably warm weather and holiday shoppers’ procrastination.
“Following a surge in sales volume over Black Friday and Thanksgiving weekend, we believe there was a temporary lull in customer demand,” said Bear Stearns analyst Christine Augustine in a note to investors. “And then another surge of last minute shopping during the week before Christmas.”
Augustine said other retailers, including discounters BJ’s Wholesale Club (nyse: BJ - news - people ), Target (nyse: TGT - news - people ) and Costco (nasdaq: COST - news - people ), are planning low to mid-single digit same-store sales increases for December.
Though the warm weather that hurt winter apparel sales this holiday, Augustine expects the momentum from December to segue into the early part of the New Year as consumers look to redeem gift cards.
“In addition, we expect that the growing popularity of gift cards could have helped generate strong full-price sales on fresh good during the week post Christmas,” she said. “We believe shoppers tend to spend more than the cards’ value when they are redeemed.”
forbes.com |
