The stock market is drifting lower as investors worry that retail earnings from Ralph Lauren Inc. and Michael Kors Holdings Ltd. could be a red flag for next week’s big retail earnings announcements. While both retailers met expectations, they both complained about mall traffic and saw sales drop from the previous year.
The S&P 500 is down by 6 points to 2,174 and the Dow Jones industrial average is lower by 39 points to 18,494. The Nasdaq is slipping by 27 points to 5,197, while the S&P retail ETF is adding 16 cents to sell at $44.33.
Ralph Lauren stock is jumping over 10 percent to $105.28 after the apparel brand beat analyst estimates for its first-quarter earnings. Investors were upbeat despite the fact that Lauren delivered a loss of $22 million and a decline of 6 percent in same store sales. Like other retailers, the company said it was “facing difficult retail traffic trends in a highly promotional environment.” Lauren reported adjusted earnings of $1.06 per share, which easily beat the FactSet estimate for 89 cents per share. Sales of $1.55 million, although a drop from last year’s revenue of $1.62 billion, also topped the FactSet estimate for $1.53 million. Ralph Lauren is in the early stages of a restructuring and the stock has fallen 20 percent for the past year.
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Michael Kors investors are not giving it the same response for its fiscal first-quarter earnings even though it too beat the estimates for earnings and sales. The stock is slipping 1 percent to $49.63 in midday trading. The company complained about mall traffic trends and a decrease in tourism. For the three months ended July 2, net income fell 15.7 percent to $147.1 million, or 83 cents a diluted share, from $174.4 million, or 87 cents, a year ago. Looking ahead they said that there would be a planned reduction in wholesale shipments and forecast that comparable sales would decrease. In addition, expenses will be rising as the company makes investments in its international expansion and digital efforts. Total revenue is expected to be flat for fiscal 2017 versus the prior year.
Following the close of the market yesterday, Fossil Group Inc. reported its earnings and today the stock is higher by over 4 percent to $31.64. Adjusted earnings per share totaled 12 cents per share and beat the FactSet estimate for earnings of 9 cents per share. That helped pushed the stock up over 2 percent to $31.19 after the close. Net sales for the three months ending July 2 fell to $685.4 million from $740.0 million a year earlier. This also beat the FactSet estimate for sales of $672 million. Fossil saw increases in leather and jewelry sales, but the declines in watches was too much to offset the gains.
Perfumania Holdings Inc. has appointed Frank J. Furlan as chief executive officer of Perfumania’s retail store and e-commerce operations. Furlan comes to the company from The Swatch Group.