New York, NY, May 4, 2006--Retailers posted strong gains in April, as a late Easter and apparel-shopping surge outweighed concerns over gasoline prices and rising interest rates.
Wal-Mart's same-store sales rose 6.8% for the month, made up of an increase of 7.3% at its namesake stores, and a rise of 3.8% at its Sam's Club warehouse discount stores.
Target Corp., as expected, posted very strong numbers. Comparable-store sales increased 10.4%.
Costco Wholesale Corp. had a 7% gain in same-store sales, beating the 5.5% estimate from analysts.
Federated Department Stores reported April same-store sales were off 0.8 percent. The result was better than the company's projection of a decline between 2.5 percent and 3.5 percent, and well ahead of the 1.7 percent drop forecast by Wall Street. Total sales in the month climbed 60 percent to $1.88 billion from $1.17 billion.
J.C. Penney Co., had a 2.6 percent gain in same-store sales in its department store business, a bit below the 2.7 percent estimate from analysts.
Discount department store owner Kohl's said its same-store sales climbed 13.4 percent in April. Analysts were expecting an increase of 5.4 percent.
Total sales were up 21.1 percent to $1.14 billion, from $938.7 million during April last year.
Department-store chain Dillard's Inc., said its same-store sales in the four weeks ended April 29 rose 10 percent.
High-end retailer Nordstrom reported same-store sales that were up 7.3%. Analysts were expecting a rise of 4.8%.
