Tipsheet: Gap +1% | Hibbett Sports -11.7% | WM Call H-lights | F.Locker -6%
Gap Q2 Comp Sales +1% “Old Navy Global: positive 5 percent versus flat last year, Gap Global: negative 1 percent versus negative 3 percent last year, Banana Republic Global: negative 5 percent versus negative 9 percent last year.” Press release
…CNBC: Gap soars after better-than-expected profit forecast Read more
Ross Stores Q2 Comp Sales +4% “Net earnings grew to $317 million, compared to $282 million in the prior year. Sales rose 8% to $3.432 billion.” Press release
Sportsman’s Warehouse Q2 Comp Sales -9.0% “The Company opened four new stores in the second quarter of fiscal 2017 and ended the quarter with 83 stores in 22 states.” Press release
Hibbett Sports Q2 Comp Sales -11.7% “Gross margin was 28.9% of net sales…compared with 33.0% for the 13-week period ended July 30, 2016. The decrease was mainly due to promotions and markdowns taken to liquidate excess and aged inventory.” Press release
New York & Co. Q2 Comp Sales -1.1% Press release
Foot Locker shares tumble 15% after profit and sales fall short of estimates at Fox Business. “Same-store sales fell 6%, compared with a FactSet consensus of a gain of 0.8%.” Read more
Halloween Survey: 78% will buy candy/treats from Walmart by Field Agent. “Field Agent surveyed 1,501 Halloween households across the country. About 4-in-10 households said they’ll purchase costumes or costume accessories online this year.” Read more
Creditor group wants to sue Sears Canada executives, board for negligence by Hollie Shaw at Financial Post. “A group of aggrieved creditors wants to sue the executive officers and directors of Sears Canada for negligence and intends to ask an Ontario judge Friday to schedule a hearing for their motion on whether they can proceed with their claim.” Read more
50 Rooftop Solar Farms: Home Depot Finds New Use for Store Roofs “In partnership with Current, a subsidiary of GE, and Tesla, the company is utilizing Power Purchase Agreements to lease its roof space and generate solar energy in five states, including California, Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and the District of Colombia.” Read more
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Jack Ma Is Ahead of Jeff Bezos in Grocery Store Ambitions by Selina Wang at Bloomberg. “Alibaba had been quietly incubating its Hema grocery store concept for two years. It rolled out three new locations last month, bringing the total to 13, the bulk in Shanghai and Beijing. The sprawling, bright supermarkets combine online and offline shopping, where customers who have downloaded Hema’s app scan barcodes on products and pay with their Alipay digital wallet.” Read more
US online retail posts its largest gain in five years by Stefany Zaroban at Internet Retailer. “U.S. e-commerce sales grew 16.3% during the second quarter…Amazon was responsible for nearly half of that growth.” Read more
Costco puts the hurt on Iceland toilet paper company by BBC News. “Costco opened a new shopping warehouse in Iceland’s Reykjavik earlier this year and was initially met with enthusiasm. However, this excitement has not been matched at the offices of toilet paper company Papco, which says its sales have plummeted by up to 30%.” Read more
…Costco Partly Responsible For 40% Increase In Icelandair Cargo Flights at Iceland Review. Read more
Hudson’s Bay names J.C. Penney’s Edward Record as new CFO at Globe and Mail. “Last month, U.S. activist investor Jonathan Litt ratcheted up pressure on Hudson’s Bay by threatening it would consider a push to remove some directors at the company unless drastic steps were taken to make more money off its assets.” Read more | Press release
Bunnings hits a snag in British expansion plans by Patrick Hatch at Sydney Morning Herald. “Bunnings UK and Ireland swung to a $89 million loss in its first full financial year under Wesfarmers’ ownership and would take longer than expected to turn a profit. Bunnings Group managing director Michael Schneider said sales had been hurt as it moved Homebase’s 251 stores away from kitchen and bathroom products and towards Bunnings’ staples of garden and home improvement products.” Read more
Whole Foods’ John Mackey to Headline SNAC International Executive Leadership Forum in September Read more
Estee Lauder Q4 Net Sales +9% Press release
SNAP – BJ’s Brawl Features Canes and Snapped Fingers by Alexandra Seltzer at Palm Beach Post. “She raised her cane. I pushed the cart into her…”I couldn’t believe that one elderly lady rammed another elderly woman with a shopping cart,” Hanifin said Thursday…“My fingers were in (the cart), they snapped. I broke one finger and dislocated the other. I’m in a cast now. My knee is badly injured” Read more
Tipsheet Extra Stories
‘Star Wars’ Obi-Wan Kenobi Film in the Works
Hollywood, Apple Are Said to Mull Rental Plan, Defying Theaters
Amazon will put 1,600 Echo Dots in Arizona State University’s engineering student dorms
Millennials are financing everything from bed sheets to concert tickets
Avocado shortage hits California sending Millennials into panic
India threatens Philip Morris with ‘punitive action’ over alleged violations
The Real Reason Jeff Bezos Grinds Trump’s Gears
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Heard on the Call:
Walmart Q2 Earnings Call Highlights
Doug McMillon
Walmart U.S. grew comp sales 1.8% and comp traffic 1.3%
Sam’s Club delivered comp traffic growth of more than 2%
International: nine of 11 markets posted positive comp sales and five of these markets grew comps by more than 5%
By the end of the year, we’ll have approximately 100 automated pickup towers in stores across the U.S.
67 million SKUs on walmart.com
Food categories delivered the strongest quarterly comp sales performance in five years
Sam’s Club had comp sales growth without fuel of 1.2% led by 2.1% comp traffic growth and e-commerce GMV increased 23%
Member’s Mark: more than a $10 billion brand and growing
Brett Biggs
Walmex: Total sales increased 9.2%, excluding Suburbia, and comp sales grew 7.2%
Mexico: comp sales increased more than 15% on a two-year stacked basis
Canada: net sales increased 3.4%, and comp sales increased 2.5%
UK: net sales increased 3.9%, and comp sales increased 1.8%
China: net sales increased 2.5%, and comp sales increased 0.6%