US Apparel Retailers Post Modest August Comps Gains

(RTTNews) - Most U.S. apparel retailers on Thursday reported very modest sales growth during the pivotal back-to-school shopping month of August. Sales were a bit sluggish despite heavy discounts during the first half of the month.

August is normally a healthy month for U.S. retailers as parents and students line up at stores for back-to-school and even back-to-college shopping, which are a necessity. It is the second-biggest selling period for retailers after the Christmas holiday season.

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. (LTD), the operator of Victoria's Secret and Bath & Body Works chains, said its August comparable store sales increased 2 percent, reflecting positive sales across its three brands led by Le Senza. The result marginally missed Street expectations for a 2.1 percent increase. Net sales were $704.7 million, up from $6665.6 million last year.

Teen apparel retailer, Buckle, Inc. (BKE) announced that comparable store net sales for the month of August grew 1.0 percent, topping analysts' expectations for a 0.4 percent growth. Net sales edged up 0.3 percent to $101.1 million from last year.

Meanwhile, value-priced fashion apparel retailer Cato Corp. (CATO) reported that August same-store sales were down 2 percent, and total sales decreased 5 percent from last year to $59.2 million.

"August same-store sales were within our range of expectations and consistent with our current trend. We remain cautious in regard to the remainder of the year," commented John Cato, Chairman, President, and CEO of Cato.

Stein Mart, Inc. (SMRT) reported a 3.8 percent growth in comparable store sales for the month of August. Total monthly sales also grew 3.7 percent to $83.3 million from the prior-year month.

A report released from the Conference Board last Tuesday showed an unexpected modest improvement in U.S. consumer confidence in the month of August, rebounding to the highest level in two and a half years, reflecting the improving short-term expectations.

The U.S. consumer confidence index edged up to 81.5 in August from an upwardly revised 81.0 in July. Economists had expected the index to dip to 78.0 from the 80.3 originally reported for the previous month. The improvement primarily stemmed from consumers being moderately more upbeat about business, job and earning prospects.