US Apparel Retailers Post Sluggish September Comp Sales

(RTTNews) - U.S. apparel retailers on Thursday reported sluggish sales in September as nervous shoppers held off on last-minute back-to-school shopping.

September and October are normally a breather between the strong back-to-school shopping that began in July and the all-important holiday shopping season that starts in November.

Looking ahead, the current budgetary impasse and potential debt ceiling showdown are tempering already modest expectations for October.

In a letter to congressional leaders, the National Retail Federation called upon both Congress and the Administration to end the budget impasse and urged both political parties to immediately pass a funding bill so that federal employees and contractors can get back to work.

Sales at established stores or comparable-store sales is a key retail industry performance metric to gauge activity at store locations that have been open for at least a year.

L Brands, Inc. (LTD), the operator of Victoria's Secret and Bath & Body Works chains, said its September comparable store sales increased 1 percent, reflecting positive sales across its three brands led by Le Senza. The result missed Street expectations for a 2.0 percent increase. Net sales were $786.0 million, up from $773.6 million last year.

Teen apparel retailer, Buckle, Inc. (BKE) announced that comparable store net sales for the month of September declined 4.5 percent. Meanwhile, net sales remained flat with last year at $99.1 million.

Meanwhile, value-priced fashion apparel retailer Cato Corp. (CATO) reported that September same-store sales were down 3 percent, while total sales increased 3 percent from last year to $72.9 million.

"September same-store sales were within our guidance and consistent with our current trend. We now expect third quarter earnings per diluted share will be at the higher end of our guidance range of $.02 to $.09 versus $.16 last year," commented John Cato, Chairman, President, and CEO of Cato.

Stein Mart, Inc. (SMRT) reported a 5.0 percent growth in comparable store sales for the month of September. Total monthly sales also grew 7.3 percent to $112.2 million from the prior-year month.

Another specialty retailer of action sports related apparel, footwear, equipment and accessories Zumiez, Inc. (ZUMZ) reported Wednesday that its comparable store sales for September edged down 0.6 percent, in line with analysts' expectations for a 0.6 percent drop. Total net sales also declined 6.0 percent from last year to $58.9 million.

A report released from the Conference Board on September 24 showed a slightly more than expected deterioration in U.S. consumer confidence in the month of September, with concerns about the short-term outlook for both jobs and earnings resurfacing.

The U.S. consumer confidence index dipped to 79.7 in September from an upwardly revised 81.8 in August. Economists had been expecting the index to edge down to 80.0 from the 81.5 originally reported for the previous month.