Wednesday, December 15, 2010

FBR Talks Abercrombie (NYSE:ANF), American Eagle (NYSE:AEO), Chico’s (NYSE:CHS), Coldwater Creek (Nasdaq:CWTR), Macy’s (NYSE:M), Kohl's (NYSE:KSS), JCPenney (NYSE:JCP), Nordstrom (NYSE:JWN)

FBR Capital gave its outlook on the Consumer/Specialty Retail sector for the Christmas season, highlighting a mixed bag of stores, including Abercrombie (NYSE:ANF), American Eagle (NYSE:AEO), Chico’s (NYSE:CHS), Coldwater Creek (Nasdaq:CWTR), Macy’s (NYSE:M), Kohl's (NYSE:KSS), JCPenney (NYSE:JCP) and Nordstrom (NYSE:JWN).

FBR said, "According to the International Council of Shopping Centers, sales last week accelerated 3.1% over last year. This is a 0.8% gain over the prior week. According to comScore, holiday season retail e-commerce spending for the first 40 days of the November–December 2010 holiday season reached $21.95 billion, marking a 12% increase over last year. The most recent week, the week ending December 10, reached $5.15 billion in spending, an increase of 11% versus last year."

"We saw a modest pickup in discounting this weekend. Traffic in the malls that we visited was okay, not tremendous. We continue to expect a bookended holiday season, with strength at the beginning and the end...There appears to be a very big difference between the high end and low end in terms of traffic and bags. The low end is remaining austere this year. The high end is shopping and buying more for themselves while buying gifts...Teen stocks - Abercrombie and American Eagle discounts were pretty consistent with last weekend....Women’s: Chico’s and Coldwater Creek were under pressure after the Talbot’s news last week...Macy’s looks phenomenal still...Traffic continues to be strong at Kohl's; seems to be decent at JCPenney, too...Nordstrom business appears to have picked up."

Abercrombie closed Tuesday at $55.14, up $0.45, or 0.82 percent. American Eagle closed at $15.12, down $0.25, or 1.63 percent. Chico’s ended at $11.85, down $0.02, or 0.19 percent. Coldwater Creek closed at $2.74, down $0.02, or 0.72 percent. Macy's was at $25.18, up $0.23, or 0.92 percent. Kohl's ended the day at $53.58, up $0.18, or 0.34 percent. JCPenney closed at $32.47, down $0.36, or 1.10 percent. Nordstrom closed at $41.77, up $0.11, or 0.25 percent.

No comments: