Shop Talk
Retailers, consumers and prices
Check Out Line: Retail earnings present a mixed bag
Check out U.S. retailers posting better-than-expected profits but seeing their shares fall.
Kohl’s Corp on Thursday posted quarterly profit that rose more than Wall Street had expected. But the mid-tier department store operator’s shares fell nearly 3 percent after its forecast for the second quarter and full year fell short of analysts’ estimates.
“Consumers appeared to be a little more confident in their spending, but remain focused on value and ways to make their dollars go farther,” said Kohl’s CEO Kevin Mansell in a statement.
Meanwhile, specialty retailer Urban Outfitters reported that quarterly profit rose 72 percent, but its earnings per share only topped Wall Street estimates by a penny and its shares fell 3 percent.
Latest back-to-school outlook brings little cheer
Citigroup retail analysts held a call with the media to discuss their outlook for this year’s back-to-school season and, as we’ve been hearing, there are few bright spots on the horizon.
Deborah Weinswig, who covers retailers including Costco, Wal-Mart and Nordstrom, said Citi expects back-to-school same-store sales for those retailers to fall 3 percent to 4 percent.
Netflix tops customer satisfaction survey
Online retail may be outperforming brick-and-mortar rivals amid the U.S. recession, but that’s no reason to get complacent.
In a wake-up call to the industry, a new survey shows that customer satisfaction with online retailers declined 3 percent from last year.
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