New York, NY, January 5, 2006--December results from the nation’s major retailers revealed a somewhat mixed bag, but overall results appeared to meet or surpass expectations.
Wal-Mart reported same-store sales for December that rose 2.2 percent, which was at the low end of the company’s forecast for a 2 percent to 4 percent gain. It was also the lowest December gain for the company in five years. Same-store sales at the Wal-Mart unit rose 1.9 percent and were up 3.6 percent at its Sam's Club discount outlets.
Target Corp., said its December same-sales sales rose 4.7 percent at U.S. stores, helped by a last-minute rush of holiday shoppers, beating analysts estimates.
Analysts, on average, expected a 4.5 percent increase. The retailer had forecast growth in the range of 4 percent to 5 percent. The company reported total sales for the period that rose 11.6 percent to $8.42 billion.
Among other discounters, Costco Wholesale Corp., posted a 7 percent gain in same-store sales. The company said its total sales for the month rose 10 percent to $6.37 billion from $5.77 billion a year earlier.
Sears said same-store sales for its Kmart and Sears increased by 1.0 percent in December it said same-store sales at its Sears domestic stores declined by 11.9 percent, reflecting a reduction in certain promotional events intended to improve gross margin and poor apparel sales due to weaker than anticipated customer response to fashion offerings.
Kohl's said its December same-sales sales rose 4.6 percent. The company’s total sales for the five weeks rose 16.2 percent from the year-earlier period to $2.48 billion.
JC Penney said its same-store department store sales were up 2.2 percent for the month, prompting the company to raise its earnings outlook for the fourth quarter even though the result was slightly lower than Wall Street expected. Total sales for December at Penney rose 3.1 percent to $3.26 billion from $3.16 billion a year ago. Catalog and Internet sales increased 4.3 percent for the period.
Federated Department Stores reported same-store sales gains of 3.4 percent for the month. Total sales at Federated rose to $5.71 billion from $2.86 billion in the year-ago period.
Luxury department store Nordstrom posted same-store sales gains of 7.7 percent in December, well ahead of estimates of 3.8 percent growth.
Pier 1 Imports reported a decline in same-store sales of 4.8 percent for the month. The company’s results were slightly above analysts’ expectations. Total sales for the five weeks ended Dec. 31 declined 1 percent to $286.9 million from $289.6 million a year earlier, the company said.
