Wal-Mart beats - U.S. comp sales climb 1.8% as online purchases grow 60% at CNBC. "This isn't a blow-away report ... it's a solid report," Gordon Haskett analyst Chuck Grom told CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Thursday. "In the grand scheme of things, we've seen a lot of bad numbers out of retailers this past week." Read more | Press release   Target to partner with Barnes & Noble College by Dan DeBaun at Minneapolis/St.Paul Business Journal. "For those campuses that aren’t lucky enough to have one of the new small-format stores, we’re partnering with Barnes & Noble College, which [...]

  Target Q2 Comp Sales +1.3% "Driven by traffic growth of 2.1 percent. Comparable digital channel sales increased 32 percent, on top of 16 percent growth in second quarter 2016." Press release   ...Fox Business: Target's profit, comp sales beat on higher customer visits "Target's shares rose as much as 5% to $57.01 before the bell on Wednesday after the retailer also said it would double the number of its small-format stores." Read more   ...Star Tribune: Target pulls out of yearlong sales slump with higher store traffic, online purchases by Kavita Kumar. "Target also said Wednesday that it is going to pick [...]

  Home Depot Q2 comp sales +6.3% "Comp sales for U.S. stores were positive 6.6 percent...diluted earnings per share increased 14.2 percent from the same period in the prior year." Press release   TJX Q2 comp sales +3% "Net sales for the second quarter of Fiscal 2018 increased 6% to $8.4 billion and consolidated comparable store sales increased 3% over last year’s 4% increase." Press release   Dick's Q2 comp sales +0.1% (vs. company guidance of 2-3%) "We continued to capture market share and generated strong results in eCommerce, footwear and golf, although sales were pressured by weakness in hunting, licensed and athletic apparel" [...]

  Wal-Mart is quietly growing its online advertising business, analyst says by Eugene Kim at CNBC. "According to KeyBanc's Ed Yruma, Wal-Mart's website has started to show banner ads by third-party sellers more frequently...On top of that, Wal-Mart has recently started linking its in-store and online shopping data, giving more in-depth data that advertisers could play with, he said." Read more   Target refreshes brands to stay chic and relevant, phasing out Merona and Mossimo at Star Tribune. "Over the next 18 months, Target will launch more than a dozen new brands, four of which begin hitting stores in coming [...]

  Former QVC exec charged with bilking company out of more than $1M by Jeff Blumenthal at Philadelphia Business Journal. "Prosecutors said QVC unknowingly paid for: Approximately $200,000 in private luxury chauffeur rides for (James Falkowski) and his friends...over $28,000 in payments to a custom furniture maker for two tables for Falkowski’s Philadelphia apartment; Approximately $59,500 in pre-paid American Express, Tom Ford, and Barney’s New York gift cards that he used for himself." Read more   ...Falkowski also allegedly engaged in kickback schemes with two vendors that ultimately paid him $240,000 for arranging insider deals with the company at Daily Mail. Pics/Read more   [...]

  BEAT 1 - Macy's Q2 Comp Sales Beat Estimates, -2.5% vs. estimated -3.0% at Fox Business. Read more | Press release   BEAT 2 - Kohl's Q2 comp sales +0.4% as foot traffic 'accelerated' at The Street. "Kohl's stock surged over 3% premarket after the retailer announced Q2 earnings of $1.24 per share, beating the FactSet analyst consensus of $1.19 per share and jumping 60% from the same period last year." Read more | Press release   BEAT 3 - Canadian Tire Q2 Comp Sales +1.8% by Hollie Shaw at Financial Post. "...earnings surging 9%. Revenue in the period ended [...]

  CVS Health Is Sued Over ‘Clawbacks’ of Prescription Drug Co-Pays by Jef Feeley & Jared S Hopkins at Bloomberg. "Schultz said in one case she paid $166 for a generic drug that would have cost only $92 if she’d known to pay cash. CVS “remained silent and took her money” because the chain was in cahoots with the pharmacy benefit managers who got the extra co-pay money, she said in the suit." Read more   Office Depot Q2 Comp -6.0% "Total reported sales for the second quarter of 2017 were $2.4 billion compared to $2.6 billion in the second quarter of 2016, a decrease [...]

  CVS Q2 Comp Sales: Front -2.1%, Pharmacy -2.8% Press release   ...CVS Health tops 2Q forecasts, narrows 2017 guidance by Tom Murphy at Fox Business. "Overall, CVS Health's second-quarter earnings of $1.1 billion rose 19 percent compared to last year's quarter, when the company booked a $542 million loss on the early retirement of some debt." Read more   Wal-Mart, insurers settle lawsuits over 2014 Tracy Morgan crash by Jonathan Stempel at Reuters. "Terms of the settlement are confidential, and both sides agreed not to bring their claims again...Wal-Mart's payouts to Morgan and Fuqua have not been disclosed, but [...]