6-Day Rally Lifts S&P 500 to Record High, Best Buy Surges to 11-year High

Mukesh Buch
25 May, 2017
New York City

Market indexes rallied for the sixth day in a row. Abercrombie & Fitch net loss widened as sales plunge continues. Best Buy declined but lifted fiscal forecast. Burlington Stores net surged. Dollar Tree net plunged. Sears net swung to profit but comparable sales accelerated decline.

[R]4:10 PM New York – Market indexes rallied for the sixth day in a row. Abercrombie & Fitch net loss widened as sales plunge continues. Best Buy declined but lifted fiscal forecast. Burlington Stores net surged. Dollar Tree net plunged. Sears net swung to profit but comparable sales accelerated decline.[/R]

Tollbooth Index jumped 113.69 or 0.9% to 12,196.98.

Earnings Review

Abercrombie & Fitch Co ((ANF)) soared 8.2% or $1.05 to $13.94 after the specialty retailer said net sales in the first-quarter ending in April dropped 3.5% from a year ago to $661.1 million.

Comparable store sales in the quarter slumped 3%.

Net loss in the quarter widened to $61.7 million or 91 cents per diluted share from $39.6 million or 59 cents in the same quarter last year.

Net sales in Hollister chain increased 3% to $374.7 million but plunged 11% to $286.4 million in Abercrombie from a year ago period.

Best Buy Co Inc ((BBY)) surged 18.5% or $9.30 to $59.75 after the technology products retailer reported net sales in the first-quarter ending in April declined 9.2% from a year ago to $8.5 billion.

Comparable store sales in the quarter increased 1.6%.

Net income in the quarter declined 17.9% to $188 million or 60 cents per diluted share from $229 million or 70 cents in the same quarter last year.

Best Buy said domestic revenue rose 1.1% to $7.9 billion driven by comparable sales growth of 1.4% and revenues in international business rose 0.3% and comparable sales advanced 4%.

The retailer forecasted second-quarter revenues in the range of $8.6 billion to $8.7 billion and comparable sales in the range of 1.5% to 2.5% and diluted earnings per share between 57 cents and 62 cents.

Best Buy lifted fiscal 2018 revenues forecast of about 2.5% from earlier estimated to 1.5%.

Burlington Stores Inc ((BURL)) jumped 5.5% or $5.18 to $99.19 after the branded apparel retailer said total sales in the first-quarter ending in April advanced 5% from a year ago to $1.3 billion.

Comparable store sales in the quarter rose 0.5%.

Net income in the quarter surged 39.6% to $52.4 million or 73 cents per diluted share from $37.5 million in the same quarter last year.

Dollar Tree, Inc ((DLTR)) advanced 2.8% or $2.18 to $80.26 after the discount stores operator reported sales in the first-quarter ending in April increased 4% from a year ago to $5.3 billion.

Same store sales in the quarter jumped 2.5% while same store sales in Family Dollar dropped 1.2%.

Net income in the quarter plunged 13.8% to $200.5 million or 85 cents per diluted share from $232.7 million or 98 cents in the same quarter last year.

The discount stores operator forecasted second quarter net sales in the range of $5.18 billion to $5.28 billion and diluted earnings per share in the range of 80 cents to 88 cents.

In fiscal 2017, Dollar Tree lifted revenues forecast between $21.95 billion and $22.25 billion from the earlier estimated range of $21.94 billion to $22.33 billion based on slightly positive to low single-digit increase in same-store sales and 3.9% square footage growth and diluted earnings per share between $4.17 and $4.43.

Genesco Inc ((GCO)) tumbled 22.1% or $9.85 to $34.70 after the apparel, accessories and footwear retailer and wholesaler stated net sales in the first-quarter ending in April fell 0.8% from a year ago to $643.4 million.

Comparable store sales in the quarter, including same store sales and comparable e-commerce and catalog sales decreased 1%.

Net income in the quarter declined 91.3% to $0.9 million or 5 cents per diluted share from $10.4 million or 50 cents in the same quarter last year.

Hormel Foods Corp ((HRL)) slumped 5.6% or $2 to $33.40 after the meat and food products maker reported revenues in the second-quarter ending in April dropped 4.9% from a year ago to $2.2 billion.

Net income in the quarter fell 2.1% to $210.9 million or 39 cents per diluted share from $215.4 million or 40 cents in the same quarter last year.

Sears Holdings Corp ((SHLD)) soared 19.4% or $1.45 to $8.88 after the integrated retailer stated revenues in the first-quarter ending in April plunged 20.4% from a year ago to $4.3 billion.

Sears Domestic comparable store sales declined 12.4%, primarily driven by sales drop in the home appliances, apparel and lawn & garden categories.

Kmart, comparable store sales plummeted 11.2%.

Net in the quarter swung to profit $244 million or $2.28 per diluted share from a loss of $471 million or $4.41 in the same quarter last year.

Signet Jewelers Ltd ((SIG)) dropped 6.6% or $3.62 to $50.91 after the Bermuda–based diamond jewelry retailer said total sales in the first-quarter ending in April slumped 11.1% from a year ago to $1.4 billion.

Same store sales in the quarter plunged 11.5%.

Net income in the quarter plunged 52.1% to $70.3 million or $1.03 per diluted share from $146.8 million or $1.87 in the same quarter last year.