Pursuits

Gap Tumbles as Dismal Store Traffic Drags Down July Sales

  • Weak trends in May, July make Gap cautious on full-year profit
  • Preliminary adjusted second-quarter profit tops expectations

Pedestrians walk past a Gap Inc. store in San Francisco, Calif.

Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
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Gap Inc., the biggest U.S. apparel-focused retailer, fell in early trading after comparable sales last month missed analysts’ estimates and the company provided some cautious commentary on the second half of the year.

Same-store sales -- a key benchmark -- dropped 4 percent in July, the San Francisco-based retailer said in a statementBloomberg Terminal Monday. Analysts had predicted a decline of 1 percent, according to Retail Metrics. The decline was broad-based, with sales by that measure missing analysts’ projections at all of the company’s major brands last month.