Retail Sales Roundup

The retails sales reports for April that came out this morning were fairly mixed. There were quite a handful of companies that beat estimates, but for the most part the stocks in this sector are trading lower today.

I think concerns over high gas prices are weighing on consumer sentiment, even as the rebate checks began being mailed this week.

Here is a sample of some of the reports:

• ANF: +6.0% (vs. +2.4% estimate)
• ARO: +25.0% (vs. +8.0%)
• AEO: +2.0% (vs. -0.4%)
• BJ: +17.8% (vs. +9.8%)
• PLCE: +15.0% (vs. +5.3%)
• KSS: +3.5% (vs. +1.8%)
• SKS: +23.9% (vs. +0.9%)
• WMT: +3.2% (vs. +2.1%)
• ZUMZ: +4.1% (vs. +2.5%)
• GPS: -6.0% (vs. -1.8%)
• HOTT: -2.5% (vs. +0.3%)
• JWN: -3.8% (vs. -1.6%)
• TGT: +3.1% (vs. +4.2%)

The reaction in the stocks, even for some of the ones that beat estimates, is pretty disappointing. That makes me think most of the stocks in this group have more downside, and I would hold off putting new money to work in this sector.