The May comp store numbers for the retail industry:
In the mall: Abercrombie up 3.0, Aeropostale down 1.1, American Eagle up 11.0, Ann Taylor up 12.0 , Hot Topic down 6.0, Limited Brands up 7.0, and Pacific Sunwear down 2.6. Gap as a company was down 6.0, however the break down between companies is interesting. Gap North America was down 5.0, Gap International is down 13.0, Old Navy was down 8.0, but Banana Republic is starting to show signs of a turnaround with a 3.0 positive comp.
In the department store sector: Dillards up 3.0, Federated up 9.2, JC Penny up 11.1, Kohls up 3.1, Nordstrom up 7.8, and Saks up 5.7.
In the battle of Target v. Wal-Mart and warehouse stores v. warehouse stores, Target was up 5.7 & Wal-Mart was up 2.0. Sams Club was up 4.0 while BJs Wholesale was up 4.2 and Costco was up 10.0.
Generally a pretty positive month across the board. Gap continues to struggle and Kohls is curiously one of the few companies with positive marks that didnt beat investor estimates. Pacific Sunwear was down 2.6 after a fantastic April in which they posted a 14.0 positive comp.
Minyanville posts a good roundup of the May numbers, covering some retailers I didn’t cover here.
Interesting month and a good start to the Summer season in retail.