Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Aeropostale, Buckle, Abercrombie, Target and Wal-Mart.

Business Wire, June 05, 2009

http://www.profits.zacks.com/

CHICAGO -- Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Aeropostale (NYSE: ARO), Buckle (NYSE: BKE), Abercrombie (NYSE: ANF), Target (NYSE: TGT) and Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT).

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Here are highlights from Thursday’s Analyst Blog:

Retailers Facing Tough Comps

According to the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), US chain store sales for May fell by 4.6%. The ICSC had expected May sales to be drop 3%. Additionally, the 25 retailers that we track experienced a sales drop of 4.8%, and roughly two out of three retailers missed sales estimates for the month of May.

The year-over-year decline in sales was due in large part to difficult comparisons. At this time last year, Uncle Sam was sending out $600 tax rebate checks to consumers, who used a portion of those funds to go shopping. Of course, rising unemployment, lower wages and a penchant for saving over spending might have had something to do with the weak sales.

During May, the winners were specialty retailers Aeropostale (NYSE: ARO), up 19%, and Buckle (NYSE: BKE), up 13.4%. Retailers that disappointed were Abercrombie (NYSE: ANF), down 28%, and Target (NYSE: TGT), down 6.1%. We would like to point out this is the first time in about 30 years that Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) did not report monthly sales. Wal-Mart accounts for over half of sales from retail stores, and it has a significant impact on overall results. The world’s largest retailer announced last month that it was going to stop reporting monthly sales and will only report sales on a quarterly basis.

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