Target Q2 Comp Sales -1.1% “Second quarter 2016 sales decreased 7.2 percent to $16.2 billion from $17.4 billion last year, reflecting a 1.1 percent decrease in comparable sales combined with the removal of pharmacy and clinic revenues from this year’s results. Comparable digital channel sales grew 16 percent.” Press release

 

…Target Cuts Forecast as Same-Store Sales Drop via Fox Business. “Target said it expected same-store sales to be flat to down 2 percent in the second half of the year and cut its full-year adjusted profit forecast to $4.80-$5.20 per share from $5.20-$5.40.” Read more

 

…@jimcramer: Have to believe that a lot of the sales wins from the dollar stores and Walmart are coming from Target’s weakness and confused message

 

Lowe’s Q2 Comp Sales +2.0% “Comparable sales for the U.S. home improvement business increased 1.9 percent for the second quarter and 4.4 percent for the six month period.” Press release

 

…CNBC: Lowe’s shares sink as earnings, revenue miss, full-year guidance by Berkeley Lovelace Jr. at CNBC. “Lowe’s reported Wednesday quarterly earnings and revenue that missed analysts’ expectations, and lowered its full-year guidance. Shares of Lowe’s fell more than 6 percent in premarket trading following the announcement.” Read more

 

Lumber Liquidators wins ruling on cancer warnings, shares jump via CNBC. “Lumber Liquidators said a Superior Court of the State of California ruled that Global Community Monitor and Sunshine Park’s evidence failed to support their claims and asked them to pay $100,000 as reimbursement.” Read more

 

‘OFFICER WALMART’ – Walmart’s Out-of-Control Crime Problem Is Driving Police Crazy by Shannon Pettypiece & David Voreacos at Bloomberg. “It’s not unusual for the department to send a van to transport all the criminals (Officer) Ross arrests at this Walmart. The call log on the store stretches 126 pages, documenting more than 5,000 trips over the past five years. Last year police were called to the store and three other Tulsa Walmarts just under 2,000 times. By comparison, they were called to the city’s single Target store 44 times.” Read more

 

Sports Authority going-out-of-business sales didn’t hurt Dick’s Sporting Goods’ performance via The Denver Post. “(CEO Edward) Stack also pointed to higher merchandise sales spurred by sports championships won by the Pittsburgh Penguins professional ice hockey team and the Cleveland Cavaliers.” Read more

 

**A message from Fabe – Pillows hand-crafted in Italy prevent and relieve neck and back pain. Fabe’s Ergo Praxis pillow supports and aligns the head and neck to prevent cervical pain. Created in cooperation with Ludes University in Switzerland – it gets the body in the right position for a good night’s sleep. 100% Made in Italy. Ergo Praxis Specs | Fabe Website | How our Pillows are Made | Retailers request samples at info@shiftmarketinggroup.net. Italy-America New Product Connection

 

Retail group wants Seattle’s ‘secure scheduling’ proposal dropped by Janet I. Tu at Seattle Times. “The proposed law would require employers to post schedules two weeks in advance, and to pay an additional amount (“predictability pay”) to workers if the employer makes changes to the posted schedule…It also requires employers to keep records for three years, documenting everything from employers’ responses to employees’ requests for schedule changes, to good faith estimates of the number of hours an employee could expect to work.” Read more

 

Lowe’s donates $500,000 for Louisiana flood victims by Jenna Martin at Charlotte Business Journal. Read more

 

Luxury apartments to go up on former Best Buy site by Mark Reilly at Minneapolis/St.Paul Business Journal. “Finance & Commerce reports on the deal between Schulze and developer Kurt Krumenauer of Midwest Apartment Brokers, which paid $4.5 million for the former Best Buy store at 3200 Southdale Circle…It was the oldest Best Buy in operation when it closed in 2012.” See the pics / Read more 

 

Blue laws won’t hold Amazon back in Mass. by Michael Bodley at Boston Globe. “An effort by Massachusetts stores to classify their big-footed competitor Amazon as a traditional retailer not only failed but the online behemoth ended up with looser rules on Sunday operations…” Read more

 

Fred’s Promotes Mary Lou Gardner to EVP/Chief Merchandising and Marketing Officer “Mary Lou was most recently an executive with CVS Health Corporation, serving in many capacities during her tenure, including Divisional Merchandising Manager for Beauty/Personal Care…” Press release

 

Barnes & Noble fires CEO as ‘not a good fit’ by Teresa Novellino at New York Business Journal. “Barnes & Noble has fired CEO Ronald Boire, announcing point blank in a statement issued late this afternoon that he was “not a good fit for the organization and that it was in the best interests of all parties for him to leave the company.” Read more

 

Jeff Bezos’ technical adviser Maria Renz keynotes Amazon’s first Women’s Entrepreneur Conference by Monica Nickelsburg at GeekWire. “More than 300 female entrepreneurs who sell on Amazon’s marketplace were expected at the event today. In addition to Renz, they heard from Marla Beck, CEO of the beauty product line Blue Mercury.” Read more

 

McDonald’s in Olympic Village puts a limit on the amount of free food athletes can order (now only 20 items!) after lines longer than football fields by Cameron Phelps at Daily Mail. “The athletes see the free food as a release from months of hard work and Serasinghe captioned his picture ‘Now it’s time to eat some junk food after months of eating clean’.” See the pics / Read more

 

DC – Snowzilla baby boom? Researchers say unlikely, D.C. furniture shop says yes by Abha Bhattarai at Washington Post. “Mark Riddle…says he began noticing a flurry of pregnant shoppers a few months ago. They were all looking for cribs, and had similarly sized bumps. “People would tell me their due dates and they were all the same: late September, early October,” Riddle said. “So I did the math. And it just clicked.” Read more

 

Heard on the Call:

Home Depot Q2 Earnings Call Highlights

Craig Menear

• All merchandising departments posted positive comps
• Mexico – 51 consecutive quarters of positive comp growth
• Canada – 19 consecutive quarters of positive comp growth
• Online business had sales growth of approx 19%
• 42% of online orders are picked up in store
• 90% of returns are processed in the store

Ted Decker

Q2 sales:

• Comp transactions + 2.2%
• Comp avg. ticket + 2.5% 
• Transactions for tickets over $900: +8.1%
• Appliances highest comp dept with double-digit comps
• Comps above Company average: tools, lumber, plumbing, decor, indoor garden, building materials, and lighting
• Pro sales grew faster than Company comp

Carol Tome

• Total comps by month
  • May +2.3%
  • June +7.5%
  • July +4.5%
• A double-digit comp in appliances means 50 basis points of total comp growth for our Company
• Pro penetration as a % of sales is around 40%
• The gap between high spend Pros and low spend Pros is narrowing

Read earnings call transcript via Seeking Alpha

——————————

Dick’s Sporting Goods Q2 Earnings Call Highlights:

Edward Stack

• At the end of Q2, we had 117 new premium full service footwear decks
  • Will do roughly 180 stores in total with footwear decks
    • Then sit and read for most of next year
    • I don’t think it ever gets to be the entire chain
    • Over the next three years, I would expect that close to half of our stores would have these
• Ecommerce sales increased 26%
• License business benefited from the Pittsburgh Penguins and Cleveland Cavalier Championships
  • The Cavs more so than the Pens
• CALIA is now our #3 women’s ethnic apparel brand
• Store growth next year will probably be a little higher than it was this year because of Sports Authority stores
• We’ll get roughly 25 basis point improvement in operating margin when we flip the switch (to taking eCommerce in house in 2017)
• The main thing we are concered about…is footwear and athletic apparel
• There is no Sports Authority store that will be converted to a combo store
• When we get to Houston, you’ll see a new Nike concept on the floor from an apparel standpoint

Andre Hawaux

• Q2: opened five new Dick’s stores
• Q3: opening approx 25 new Dick’s stores, seven new Field & Stream stores, and two new Golf Galaxy stores
• In total for 2016, we plan to open approx 36 new Dick’s stores
• Sports Authority: purchased the right to acquire 31 store leases
  • 20 of the 31 are in CA and FL where we are very underpenetrated
  • Plan is to convert any Sports Authority we retain into a Dick’s store and reopen over next 12 months

Read earnings call transcript via Seeking Alpha

 

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