Gap cut its 2019 profit forecast and posted the biggest drop in same-store sales in at least three years at its Gap brand.The cut reflects struggles to compete within the fashion sector in the face of changing customer preferences. Chief Executive Officer Art Peck called the quarter “extremely challenging” and cited unusually cold weather in February, late spring breaks, a delayed Easter and lower tax refunds as reasons for the dour performance. Chief Financial Officer Teri List-Stoll said there was a lack of strong products at both Old Navy and Gap in the first quarter and said the company had held back on marketing until designs and assortments improved.  Sales at established Gap brand stores fell 10% in the three months ended May 4, steeper than the 4% decline analysts had estimated.

Abercrombie & Fitch shares took a -22% nosedive in early trading Wednesday, following disappointing same-store sale growth and the company’s plans to close more stores. The retail company’s same-store sales increased +1% during the fiscal first quarter, missing analysts’ estimates of +1.3%  (based on Refinitiv survey of analysts). However, the company’s total sales of $734 million exceeded analysts’ expectations of $733.4 million.The bottom line was also better compared to the year-ago quarter’s loss of -62 cents a share. Looking ahead, Abercrombie said that it projects second quarter net sales growth to be flat to up +2% - which is a lower range compared to analysts’ estimates of +2.8% growth.

Shares of the American sportswear and footwear retailer, Foot Locker, plunged more than 16% on Friday after the shoe retailer reported fiscal first-quarter earnings that missed Wall Street profit and revenue estimates. Company’s adjusted earnings per share for Q1 stood at $1.53 compared to Wall Street’s estimate of $1.60.While the revenue for the quarter stood at $2.08 billion against the expectation of $2.11 billion, despite the net sales increasing by 2.62% during the quarter. On an unadjusted basis, Foot Locker reported fiscal first-quarter net income of $172 million, or $1.52 per share, up from $165 million, or $1.38 per share a year earlier. The main reason for such an unsatisfactory performance of the company is its excessive dependence on major shoe companies like Nike (NKE) who are increasingly bypassing the retailers by directly selling its product to their customers.

In a cunning move, TJX survived even though many of its brick-and-mortar peers crumbled by selling products cheaper than Amazon, quickly rotating products to retain customers, and channeling clearance products from other retailers through its own shelves. As per its latest Q1 filing, TJX’s comparable store sales rose 5% ahead of its 3% growth last year.Even though its net income fell by 2% to $700 million, its buybacks enhanced its EPS by a penny to $0.57 beating estimates by three cents. If its full-year comps rose by 2% - 3%, it would mark the company’s 24th consecutive year of positive comps growth.

Hibbett Sports crushed top and bottom line estimates for the first quarter, on the back of solid growth in same-store and digital sales. The sporting goods retailer  reported adjusted earnings of $1.61 per share, surging past analysts’ expectations of $1.32 per share. Net sales for the quarter climbed +25% year-over-year to $343.3 million, topping analysts' consensus estimate of $327 million.  Hibbett’s total sales for the quarter included nearly $60 million from its City Gear acquisition.Also, same-store sales grew +5.1%, which is far above the -0.7% decline analysts had forecasted. Hibbett’s President and CEO Jeff Rosenthal emphasized that strong performance in both physical stores and e-commerce channels contributed to the first quarter results.

Foot Locker shares stumbled, following the company’s disappointing fiscal first quarter results.  The sportswear & footwear retailer’s adjusted earnings for the quarter came in at $1.53 per share, lagging behind analysts’ estimates of $1.60 per share.  Revenue increased +2.5% year-over-year to $2.08 billion, but missed analysts’ expectations of $2.11 billion.  Comparable-store sales climbed +4.6% in the quarter, falling behind the expected +5.2%. Foot Locker spent $1.8 million to buy back 32,100 shares during the quarter, an amount lower than what  analysts expected.According to the company, it now expects its earnings per share growth to be at “high-single digits” for the year, versus double-digit growth. The shoe industry is apparently facing the heat from US President Donald Trump’s 25% tariff threat on imported footwear (among other items) from China.

Casually clothing retailer American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE: AEO) is scheduled to release earnings results on June 5.Revenues are expected to come in at $854.88 million and that estimate represents an increase of 3.9% from one year ago. Looking at the weekly chart for American Eagle, the stock has pulled back in recent weeks, but it appears to have a couple of layers of support just below the current price.

However, there are good reasons to hope that it may not be the case and the companies have managed to carve out a decent quarter in terms of sales. One of the primary reasons for the optimism about TJX and Ross’s quarterly results is their consistency.TJX too averaged 4% comp-sales growth over the period gaining 6% in 2018, 2% in 2017, and 5% in 2016. Another reason is that both the companies have a conservative approach towards forecasts and in most cases, they exceed those forecasts.

Online clothing retailer Stitch Fix (Nasdaq: SFIX) has experienced a wild ride since it went public back in November 2017.The stock peaked at $52.44 in September but then proceeded to fall down to $16.05. Since that low on Christmas Eve, the stock jumped to a high of $37.72, a gain of 135% in less than three months.

Breaking away from a prolonged 52 weeks low, Gap is ready for a comeback for the stock as shares of the company surged over 20% earlier this month after it announced the split of its Old Navy business from the rest of the company brands. Last Wednesday the company saw its average daily call volume increase two-fold despite the company announcing the closure of its 100 Arden Pl.Traders also highlighted that there was ample optimism surrounding the company after it recently announced its restructuring plan and expects GAP’s shares to reach $28.27 by June expiration, resulting into the purchase of 6,000 June 27- calls for $1.27 per options contract. However, Gap’s overall performance for the full year has been unremarkable as shares of Gap are up just over 1% this year in contrast to the broader retailer group’s gains of 10%. Interestingly at its current price point, the company’s market capitalization stood at $10.13 billion with 387.86 million shares outstanding.

Shares of Lululemon soared more than 10% after the company disclosed its estimate beating fiscal fourth quarter earnings on Wednesday.Achieved a operating margin of 21.5% during the quarter, two years ahead of schedule. But the most exciting news for the quarter was its foray into the men’s wear segment proved to be highly successful. The company, which so far specialised in women wear, disclosed that its recent foray into men’s apparel has been the most exciting segment for the year.

It is hopeful that its online sales would catapult earnings to a level higher than expected for the full-year. For the three months ended February 3, the athletic apparel retailer reported earnings of $1.85 per share, which surpassed the Street estimates of $1.74.The company’s same-store sales increased +16% and its online shipments rose + 37%. For the full year, Lululemon predicts earnings in the range of $4.48 to $4.55 per share, almost a $1 higher compared to the high end of analysts' projection.  Lululemon shares traded +16.4% higher Thursday.

The company’s same-store sales grew +3.8% year-over-year, beating analysts’ expectations of a flattish growth. President and CEO Jeff Rosenthal pointed out that Hibbett’s digital sales surged +60% to account for 10.6% of the company’s total sales in the fourth quarter.Rosenthal cited “significant progress on our strategic initiatives along with compelling assortments from our key vendors" as key factors that bolstered the firm’s latest performance.

Levi's made a strong debut on the NYSE after the shares surged nearly 32%, following the jeans maker's return to the stock market after more than three decades. Pricing its shares above expectations at $17 apiece, just above the expected target range of $14 to $16, Levi’s initial public offering seems to be well-received by the investors who demonstrated a strong willingness to own a part of the jeans giant. Valuing the company at about $6.6 billion for the IPO, it helped the company raise ~$623 million through the sale of 36.7 million shares on the 1st day of IPO. According to the company, a lion's share of the proceeds - nearly $462.5 million - would go to existing shareholders including descendants of the company’s founder Levi Strauss.It plans to use the rest for general corporate purposes including potential acquisitions. The success of the IPO seems to come at the right time, as retail companies across the globe have faced difficult times over the last few years.

Stitch Fix soared in after-hours trading Monday, on strong fiscal second quarter performance. The online subscription fashion & styling service company reported earnings of 12 cents per share for the quarter, surpassing Wall Street estimates of 5 cents a share. The company's quarterly revenue came in at $370 million, beating Street expectation of $365 million.Stitch Fix founder and CEO Katrina Lake emphasized that the firm delivered growth of over +20% for the six consecutive quarters since the company went public. The number of active clients of Stitch Fix grew +18% year-over-year to 2.96 million, edging past estimates of 2.95 million. Looking ahead, Stitch Fix expects its third-quarter revenue to range between $388 million and $398 million, higher than the $384 million forecast by Refinitiv.

This is confirmed by the fact that Old Navy has annual sales of about $8 billion, while the other brands have a combined revenue of $9 billion. The company is also planning to boost its marketing and to develop new products for the Gap brand.Gap shares have fallen roughly 20% over the past 12 months, bringing its market cap to about $9.7 billion. It is still undecided under which company name Gap, Athleta, Banana Republic and the remaining brands will come.

With this IPO, the company seeks to raise $100 million, with the intention to trade on the NYSE floor under the ticker LEVI. The underwriting process for the IPO will be led by JP Morgan (JPM) and Goldman Sachs (GS).Levi Staruss’s net income up to Nov 25, 2018 stood at $285 million - up 1.4% from the previous year.

The company lifted its EPS guidance from a range of $1.64-$1.67 to $1.72-$1.74, moving its potential year-over-year growth rate from low double digits to mid-to-high teens. LULU CEO, Calvin McDonald, said the company’s momentum has remained uninterrupted even during the holiday period, underscoring strong demand of its product offerings from customers across the world.The CFO, Patrick Guido, also remarked that the company is set to witness an upside to consensus with long-term targets due to a probable SG&A leverage next year on low-teens revenue growth. An update on LULU’s 2020 targets is expected to be available when the company reports its Q4 earnings in March.

Clothing retailer Gap, Inc. (NYSE: GPS) has been trending lower since peaking in January.Most downward sloped trend channels I point out are more clearly defined by the highs. The daily stochastics just hit overbought territory this week and have since made a bearish crossover.

According to the Mastercard SpendingPulse report, retail sales were up 5.1% from December 1 through 24 compared to the same period one year ago. There were interesting pockets where sales increased and decreased.Another area that saw a big increase was apparel with a gain of 7.9%. Enter Ross Stores (Nasdaq: ROST) -- a company I have been watching for quite some time.