Buckle’s Dismal Comps Trend Continues, August Sales Fall

The Buckle, Inc. BKE has been continuing with its sluggish comparable-store sales (comps) performance this year. Comps for the four-week period ended Aug 27, 2016, fell 14.8% year over year, continuing the trend of decline – 10.9% in July, 10.6% in June, 11% in May, 13.2% in April, 11.8% in March, 8.9% in February and 11.3% in January.

This Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) company generated net sales of $87.2 million in August, down 14% year over year. We note that net sales decreased 9.8% in July, 10.1% in June, 10.4% in May, 12.3% in April, 11% in March, 7.7% in February and 10.1% in January.

Sales at the company’s Men's category tumbled 7% year over year. This category contributed nearly 48.5% to Buckle’s August sales. Sales in the Women’s category, which represented 51.5% of the company’s monthly sales, declined 19% year over year. Buckle has not been able to turn the performance of its struggling Women’s business around.

On a combined basis, accessory sales, which constituted nearly 9% of the company’s August sales, fell 11.5%, while footwear sales, which accounted for almost 5% of net sales, plunged 14.5%.

Comps for the 30-week period ended Aug 27, 2016, slumped 11.6%, while net sales over the same time frame fell 10.8% to $542.9 million from $608.8 million recorded in the year-ago period.

As of Sep 1, 2016, Buckle operated 470 retail stores across 44 states.

Apart from Buckle, The Gap, Inc. GPS and The Cato Corporation CATO recorded comps declines of 3% and 8%, respectively. On the other hand, L Brands, Inc. LB registered an increase of 2% in comps.

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