U.S. Apparel Retailers Report Mixed September Sales

(RTTNews) - A sampling of U.S. apparel retailers on Thursday reported mixed sales at established stores for the month of September.

Sales during the month were impacted by unseasonably warm weather that delayed purchases of fall apparel and also reflected uneven back-to-school spending. However, low gasoline prices and a late Labor Day holiday helped some retailers to boost sales.

September is a transition month, marking the end of the back-to-school shopping, which is a necessity, and ahead of the all-important holiday season. The back-to-school season is the second-biggest selling period for retailers after the Christmas holiday season.

According to the National Retail Federation's annual survey, total spending on back-to-school and college items is expected to shrink to $68 billion in 2015. Families will spend on average $630.36 on back-to-school shopping this year, which is a slight drop from last year.

In late September, the Conference Board released a report showing an unexpected improvement in U.S. consumer confidence in the month of September.

The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index climbed to 103 in September from 101.3 in August. Economists had expected the index to pull back to 96. The unexpected increase by the headline index was fueled by a more positive assessment of current conditions.

Sales at established stores or comparable-store sales is a key retail industry performance metric to gauge activity at store locations that have been open for at least a year.

L Brands, Inc. (LB), the operator of Victoria's Secret and Bath & Body Works chains, said its September comparable store sales increased 9 percent, reflecting strength in both its brand stores. Net sales for the month were $919.9 million, up 8 percent from $853.5 million last year.

Stein Mart, Inc. (SMRT) reported a 2.8 percent decrease in comparable store sales for the month of September. Total monthly sales declined 1.8 percent to $117.3 million from $119.4 million in the prior-year month.

Stein Mart noted that September sales were impacted by unseasonably warm weather, one less week of post-Labor Day fall fashion selling and a shift of promotional events, including a shoe and accessories event being moved from September to October.

Sales in the company's Mid-Atlantic States were unfavorably impacted by heavy rain associated with hurricane Joaquin in the last week of the period.

Teen apparel retailer Buckle, Inc. (BKE) announced that comparable store net sales for the month of September decreased 6.7 percent. Net sales also declined 5.6 percent to $97.4 million from last year's $103.1 million.

Value-priced fashion apparel retailer Cato Corp. (CATO) reported that September same-store sales grew 2 percent, and total sales rose 4 percent from last year to $83.2 million.

"September same-store sales were above our guidance," Chairman, President and CEO John Cato stated.

Looking ahead, Cato raised its outlook for third-quarter earnings to a range of $0.18 to $0.22 per share from the prior range of $0.12 to $0.16 per share.