Someone must have had a nice Valentine’s day. Retail sales in February far outpaced analysts’ expectations across the board, with the 18 retailers that reported results posting 6.4% year over year growth, ahead of expectations for 4.8% growth.
Most surprisingly, Gap (GPS) shook off its years-long slide to post a resounding 4% same-store-sales gain, well ahead of expectations for a 1.4% drop. At Banana Republic sales jumped 12%, versus a 1% decline last year; sales at Old Navy and Gap also rose after declining last year, although international same-store sales fell 9%, the company said. Shares jumped 7.6% in early trading.
�We�re pleased we delivered positive comps across our North America businesses during February and that customers responded well to our spring product,� said Glenn Murphy, chairman and chief executive officer of Gap Inc.
At Target (TGT), same-store sales grew 7%, ahead of expectations for 5.2% growth. The company did not, however, raise its expectations for the full quarter, which may be the reason shares are slightly lower this morning.
�February sales were well above our expectations, due to stronger-than-expected guest traffic combined with a solid increase in transaction size,” said Gregg Steinhafel, chairman, president and chief executive officer. “We�re very pleased with the pace of our sales since the holiday season, though we continue to plan for a first-quarter comparable-store sales increase of around 4 percent.�
At Nordstrom (JWN), sales rose 10.2%, ahead of expectations for 5.2%. Shares were down slightly in morning trading.
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