Source: Company reports

Costco Wholesale’s April Comps Showed Double-Digit Growth

• Costco’s April same-store sales were up by 10.9% year over year, beating the consensus estimate of 8.3%.
• The company reported that the April retail month had one more shopping day compared with the same month last year, positively impacting monthly sales by 1.5%–2.0%.
• Costco’s comp traffic for April was up by 5.0% worldwide and up by 4.9% in the US. This included the positive impact from the holiday shift.
• Within the US, the strongest sales regions were the Southeast, Northwest and Bay Area. Internationally, in local currencies, the company saw the strongest results in Mexico, Japan and the UK.
• Cannibalization negatively impacted other international markets by 200 basis points and negatively impacted the US market by 50 basis points.
• Food and sundries were positive mid-single digits. Departments with the strongest results were tobacco, sundries and coolers. Hardlines were up high single digits year over year. Better-performing departments were office, tires and majors. Sales in majors were up by the mid-teens, led by appliances, TVs, computers and tablets.
• Softline comps were up by high single digits for the month. Better-performing categories included apparel, small appliances and jewelry. Fresh foods were up low to mid-single digits. The better-performing departments were service deli and produce.
• Costco’s e-commerce sales for April were up by 43.1% year over year.

L Brands Reported Flat Comps Overall and Mixed Results at Brands Level

• L Brands’ comps were flat in April. Victoria’s Secret’s comps were down by 2% and Bath & Body Works’ comps were up by 6%.
• L Brands’ merchandise margin rate was down significantly in April, mainly because of additional promotional activity at Victoria’s Secret.
• The 2% decline in comps for Victoria’s Secret’s was because the decline in Lingerie and PINK more than offset the growth in Beauty.
• At Bath & Body Works, comps were up by 6% in April and the merchandise margin rate was flat year over year.
• The company said that April comps were negatively impacted by this year’s early Easter by about 3 percentage points.

Buckle Reported Negative Comps

• Teen retailer Buckle saw an overall comp decrease of 3.4% year over year in April.
• Total sales were up by 0.5% year over year in the men’s business. Men’s represented 49.5% of total sales versus 47.5% in April last year. Price points were down by 0.5%.
• Total sales for the women’s segment were down by 6.5%. The women’s segment accounted for 50.5% of total monthly sales versus 52.5% last April. Price points were down by 2.0%.
• April total sales for accessories and footwear were down by 5.0% and up by 1.0%, respectively versus April last year, and represented 8.5% and 7.5% of sales, respectively. The average accessory price point was up by 2.0% and the average footwear price point was up by 5.5%.

The Early Easter Affected Cato’s Same-Store Sales

• Cato reported April sales of $71.8 million, a 11% decrease year over year. Comps were down by 6% in the month.
• The company said that April sales were impacted by the shift of Easter from April last year to March this year. Combined sales for March and April increased by 1% versus the same period last year.