CHICAGO (MarketWatch) - Retail stocks extended their modest winning streak Tuesday as the sector's main indicator rose slightly in early trading.
The S&P Retail Index dded about a point to 288.46 in early action.
For the first full week of December, weekly chain store sales were off 0.8%, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers, Inc. and Goldman Sachs weekly sales index.
"Over the last week, the completion rate of holiday gift-buying fell behind last year and with it holiday spending," said Michael Niemira, ICSC's chief economist. "The tough economic and retail environment, which continued into early December, is likely to dominate the full month's sales performance as well. Given this, ICSC Research expects monthly comparable-store sales will be flat to up 1% for December with late holiday shopping driving the month's overall performance."
Among some individual issues, shares of AutoZone jumped 7% to $124.83. Before the start of trading, the auto parts retailer said that its fiscal first-quarter earnings came in at $131 million, or $2.23 a share, down from $133 million, or $2.02 a share, in the same period a year ago. Sales were $1.48 billion, compared to $1.46 billion. Analysts polled by FactSet Research estimated, on average, earnings per share of $2.20 on sales of $1.49 billion. Sales for stores open at least one year decreased 1.5% for the quarter.
Kroger fell almost 7% to $25.43 after it reported that third-quarter profit slipped to $237.7 million, or 36 cents a share, from $253.8 million, or 37 cents a share in the year-ago period. On an adjusted basis, Kroger would have earned 39 cents a share after knocking out 3 cents a share for a deductible payment related to Hurricane Ike. Sales at the supermarket giant rose 9% to $17.6 billion. The average estimate of analysts polled by FactSet Research had been for the company to earn 38 cents a share on revenue of $17.5 billion. Looking ahead, the company said it expects fourth-quarter profit of 49 cents to 52 cents a share, vs. a current Wall Street view of 53 cents.
Elsewhere in retail, Wal-Mar was off 1.4% at $56.78 while Target rose the same percentage to $38.87 and Macy's tacked on 3.5% to $9.16.
