Retailers (BJ) (WAG) (DG) (WMT) (COST) Trading Mixed

Shares or retailers like BJ’s Wholesale Club (NYSE:BJ), Walgreen (NYSE:WAG), Dollar General (NYSE:DG), Wal-Mart Stores (NYSE:WMT) Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) were trading mixed today, although those listed here, with the exception of Walgreen, were trading up early in the session.

BJ’s Wholesale Club Inc. reached a confidentiality agreement with private-equity firm Leonard Green & Partners for a possible deal and discounter Dollar General Corp. reported a better-than-expected profit.

On the downside, Walgreen Co. (WAG) tumbled 7.6%, making it the largest percentage decliner in the S&P 500 index (SPX), after the drugstore chain’s same-store sales and gross margin fell short of some analysts’ estimates.

Walgreen’s fiscal second-quarter same-store sales rose 4.1%, missing the 4.4% increase estimated by Citigroup. Its non-pharmacy sales and prescription same-store sales both missed expectations as well, while its gross margin contracted slightly versus Citigroup’s expectation for a wider margin, analyst Deborah Weinswig said.

Shares of Dollar General (DG) rose 2.3%. The discount retailer said its fiscal fourth-quarter profit more than doubled, after it cut advertising and compensation costs and saw more shoppers, who spent more on items ranging from apparel to consumable products.

Retail giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) shares were up 0.2%.

Also heading higher, shares of BJ’s Wholesale Club (BJ) rose 3.1%. The company and private-equity firm Leonard Green & Partners LP reached a confidentiality agreement in which Leonard Green will look at BJ’s books — or what BJ’s called “evaluation material” — for consideration of a possible deal to take the company private, BJ’s reported in a filing with the SEC.




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