The Buckle, Inc. (BKE) reported 0.8% year over year increase in its comparable-store sales (comps) for the four-week period ended Jan 31, 2015. However, the results failed to meet analysts’ expectations, hence the company’s shares have lost value since the announcement.
Buckle’s net sales for the month totaled $58.9 million, registering 3.6% growth from the prior-year four-week period, ended Feb 1, 2014.
Notably, this is the second consecutive month in which the company has reported positive comps. Comps for December went up 2.5% after a fall of 4.4% and 1%, in October and November, respectively.
Retailers benefited during the month under review from increasing consumer confidence and improving job prospects. Retailers such as Zumiez, Inc. (ZUMZ), L Brands, Inc. (LB) and The Cato Corp. (CATO) saw their comps rise 12.3%, 7% and 14%, respectively, during the month.
Coming back to Buckle, sales in the company’s Men's category rose 10.5% year over year, mainly driven by strong performance of denim, casual bottoms, woven shirts and accessories. The Men's category contributed nearly 43% to January sales. Sales in the Women’s category fell 1% year over year, contributing 57% to the month’s sales.
Buckle, which carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), has particularly been suffering from steady weakness in the Women’s category, which is taking the sheen off its healthy Men’s and accessories business.
On a combined basis, accessories sales which constituted nearly 7.5% of January’s net sales increased 8.5%, while footwear sales, which contributed almost 5.5% of the net sales, rose 16%.
Comps for the 52-week period remained unchanged year over year, whereas net sales for the same period increased 2.2% to $1.153 billion.
As of Feb 5, 2015, Buckle operated 460 retail stores across 44 states.
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