ZUMZ

Buckle's (BKE) February Comps Down, Dismal Run Continues

The Buckle, Inc.BKE continued with its dismal comparable store net sales (comps) performance for the seventh straight month in February. The company's bearish run on the bourses is a reflection of the same.

In the past six months, shares of this Kearney, NE-based company have lost approximately 20% compared with the industry 's decline of roughly 23.2%. Moreover, since the announcement of February sales results on Mar 7, shares of this retailer of casual apparel, footwear and accessories have lost more than 3%.

Number Crunching

Coming to the monthly numbers, Buckle reported 6.8% decline in comparable store net sales (comps) for the four-week period ended Mar 2, after registering a decline of 2.2% in January 2019. In December, October, September and August of 2018, the company witnessed comps decline of 0.2%, 1%, 2.4% and 0.7%, respectively. Net sales were $59.4 million in February, down 7.2% year over year. This follows a decrease of 17.9% in January.

Sales at the company's Men's category, which contributed nearly 51.5% to sales in February, were down 4% year over year for the four-week period ended Mar 2, 2019. Also, Buckle has not been able to revive the performance of the struggling Women's business. Sales in the Women's category, which represented 48.5% of the company's monthly sales, declined roughly 10% during the aforementioned period.

On a combined basis, accessory sales, which constituted nearly 8.5% of the company's February sales, decreased 7%. However, footwear sales, which accounted for almost 6.5% of net sales, increased 2%.

3 Stocks to Watch

Zumiez Inc. ZUMZ delivered average positive earnings surprise of 13.3% in the trailing four quarters. It has a long-term earnings growth rate of 12.5% and sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank stocks here .

Foot Locker, Inc. FL delivered average positive earnings surprise of 8.8% in the trailing four quarters. It has a long-term earnings growth rate of 9.2% and a Zacks Rank #1.

Shoe Carnival, Inc. SCVL delivered average positive earnings surprise of 31.4% in the trailing four quarters. It sports a Zacks Rank #1.

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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.


The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

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