TGT

Consumer Sector Update for 03/06/2018: LOCO,TGT,CARS,UPS

Top Consumer Stocks

WMT -1.00%

MCD +0.01%

DIS +1.32%

CVS -0.89%

KO -0.16%

Consumer stocks were ending mixed today, with shares of consumer staples companies in the S&P 500 sinking about 0.1% this afternoon while shares of consumer discretionary firms in the S&P 500 were climbing more than 0.6%.

In industry news:

Same-store sales grew 3.8% over year-ago levels during the week ended March 3, matching the largest increase of 2018 and improving on a 3.3% rise during the prior week period, the Redbook survey of 20 large chain retailers found. Month-to-date sales, however, remain on negative ground, slipping 0.5% last week although that decline was 0.1 percentage point smaller than the week ended Feb. 24.

Among consumer stocks moving on news:

- El Pollo Loco ( LOCO ) was ending about 1% lower on Tuesday, roughly halving a previous 2% decline to a session low of $9.40 a share, after the restaurant chain this afternoon said its was now offering home delivery throughout the greater Los Angeles region and six other markets through a partnership with DoorDash. The service includes orders either made directly through the company's website or by using the El Pollo Loco app. El Pollo Loco selected DoorDash as its exclusive partner in September and it said it was expanding the delivery feature to additional markets following a successful pilot program in Orange County, Calif., and in Las Vegas, Nev.

In other sector news:

+ Cars.com ( CARS ) sped to a more than 7% gain on Tuesday, topping out at $30.31 a share, after the online auto seller beat analyst estimates on both its top and bottom lines, supported by an 6% year-over-year increase in mobile traffic. Excluding one-time items, the company earned $0.48 per share, exceeding the Capital IQ consensus by $0.17 per share. Revenue slipped 3% year-over-year to $156.6 million from $161.7 million last year but still topped the $156.3 million analyst mean. For FY18, the company is expecting 10% to 11% revenue growth, in-line with the 10.3% increase to around $691.01 million in sales that analysts, on average, are expecting.

+ United Parcel Service ( UPS ) gained Tuesday after analysts at Stifel Nicolaus raised their investment rating for deliveries and logistics company to to Buy from Hold although they also trimmed their price target for the company's stock by $6 to $121 a share.

- Target ( TGT ) fell 4.5% to a session low of $71.77 a share after the discount retailer reported adjusted net income for its holiday quarter trailing year-ago levels and also narrowly missing Wall Street expectations. Excluding one-time items, the company earned $1.37 per share during the three months ended Feb. 3, down from $1.45 per share last year and lagging the Capital IQ consensus by $0.01 per share. Net sales rose to $22.77 billion compared with 20.69 billion last year and topped the analyst mean expecting $22.56 billion. Target is projecting non-GAAP earnings for the current quarter and FY18 straddling the $1.40 per share and $5.26 per share Street views, respectively.

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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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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