How Did Teen Retailers Fare In Q3?

Benzinga looked at how teen apparel retailers, one of the retail categories, fared in the recently concluded quarter. These are our observations:

Teen Apparel Retailers

Teen apparel retailers continue to struggle to make meaningful inroads, squeezed by competitive threat from fashion retail chains such as Zara and H&M. This is despite the consumer spending environment remaining robust. Apparently, discount and deep discount retailers are appealing themselves to consumers than specialty retailers.

Abercrombie reported Friday third-quarter earnings per share of $0.12, below the $0.20 forecast by analysts. Revenues fell 6.5 percent to $821.7 million, also missing the $831 million consensus estimate on the back of a 6 percent decline in comps, marking the third successive quarter of negative comps growth. The company said it expects comps to see a sequential increase in the fourth quarter.

American Eagle is scheduled to release its third-quarter results before the markets open on November 30. The company is expected to report earnings of $0.41 per share on revenues of $940.94 million. In comparison, the company reported earnings of $0.42 per share on revenues of $919.07 million last year.

Also on Friday, Buckle reported a 35 percent drop in third quarter earnings to $0.48 per share. Net sales fell 14.6 percent to $239.2 million, with comps tumbling 15.3 percent year-over-year. Analysts, on average, estimated earnings of $0.52 per share on revenues of $248.95 million.

Express is expected to see its third-quarter earnings more than halve to $0.13 per share on an estimated 8.8 percent drop in revenues to $498.75 million. The company is scheduled to report on Thursday, December 1, 2016.

Gap reported Thursday after the close with third-quarter adjusted earnings per share of $0.60, in line with estimates. Revenues fell 2 percent year-over-year but squeaked past estimates. Comps fell 3 percent. The company's full year adjusted earnings per share guidance of $1.87–$1.92 was below estimates.

L Brands reported this Wednesday a 24 percent earnings per share drop to $0.42 despite 4 percent sales growth to $2.581 billion. The bottom-line results exceeded estimates, while sales were in line. However, the guidance was the sore point. For the fourth quarter, the company predicts earnings per share of $1.85–$2, down from $2.15 last year and the consensus estimate of $2.02.

New York & Company is expected to continue to bleed on the bottom line, although the loss is expected to be narrower than the year-earlier on nearly flat sales performance.

Urban Outfitters, which is due to release its third-quarter results after the market closes on November 22, is expected to report earnings of $0.44 per share, up from $0.42 per share last year. Sales are estimated to grow 5.30 percent to $869.07 million.

At Time Of Writing

• Shares of Abercrombie were plunging 13.17 percent to $14.70.
• American Eagle Outfitters was moving down 2.02 percent to $17.98.
• Buckle has bucked the downtrend and was gaining 1.26 percent to $24.05.
• Express shares were down 2.11 percent to $13.89.
• Gap was sliding 12.08 percent to $27.
• L Brands was adding 0.79 percent to $70.15.
• New York & Company was rising 0.48 percent to $2.11.
• Urban Outfitters was losing 3.19 percent to $37.59.
• SPDR S&P Retail (ETF) was slipping 0.87 percent to 45.34.