New York, NY, August 4--The nation's retailers reported mixed results in July as hot weather boosted sales of summer merchandise.
As merchants reported their results early Thursday, the winners appeared to be discounters like Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Costco Wholesale Corp.
Wal-Mart reported a 4.4 percent gain in sales at stores open at least a year, known as same-store sales. The results were in line with the consensus forecast of. Wal-Mart's total sales rose 10.7 percent.
Target said its July same-store sales rose 5.5 percent at, toward the high end of its forecast, on strength in women's apparel, perishables and men's shoes.
Target also backed its second-quarter earnings forecast of 58 cents per share.
The company said net sales from continuing operations for the four weeks ended July 30 rose 11.9 percent to $3.59 billion.
Target had said same-store sales were running near the upper end of its forecast for 4 percent to 6 percent growth. Analysts were expecting a same-store sales increase of 5.6 percent.
For August Target also forecast a same-store increase of 4 percent to 6 percent.
Costco's same-store sales rose 5 percent, better than the 4.6 percent estimate. Total sales increased 8 percent.
ShopKo Stores Inc.'s same-store sales fell 4.9 percent, worse than the 2.8 percent decline analysts anticipated. Total sales slipped 4.2 percent.
Pier 1 Imports Inc. suffered a 7.7 percent decline in same-store sales, worse than the 6.3 percent forecast. Total sales fell 3.1 percent.
Penney had a 1.6 percent gain in same-store sales in its department store business, less than the 2.4 percent estimate. Total sales rose 2.3 percent.
Federated said its July same-store sales declined, missing analyst’s target of a modest rise, but backed its second-quarter outlook.
Same-store sales fell 0.9 percent last month. That compares with the mean estimate of a 1.1 percent rise, and last year's increase of 3.7 percent.
Total sales declined 0.8 percent to $998 million from $1.01 billion in the same period last year.
Second-quarter total sales were $3.62 billion, up 1.2 percent over sales of $3.58 billion.
On a same-store basis, Federated's second-quarter sales were up 1.1 percent.
For the year to date, sales totaled $7.27 billion, up 1.9 percent from $7.13 billion. On a same-store basis, Federated's year-to-date sales were up 1.8 percent.
Up-scale retailer Nordstrom said its July same-store sales increased 3.6%, falling short of Wall Street's average expectations of a 5.4% gain for the month.
