Department-Store Shares Fall on Holiday Sales Warning
Employees serve customers at the Macy's Inc. flagship store in New York, on Nov. 22, 2018.
Photographer: Jeenah Moon/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Christmas is more than four months away, but analysts at Credit Suisse already have a warning for investors in department stores: don’t be surprised if they start trimming their outlooks next week.
There’s “mounting evidence” that stores have “significantly lowered their inventory receipt plans ahead of holiday 2019,” analysts led by Michael Binetti wrote in an Aug. 8 note. “Expect a wave of lowered guidance” next week as companies including Macy’s Inc., Dillard’s Inc. and J.C. Penney Co. report results. And store cost structures will be under even more near-term pressure, with broad new tariffs on goods from China expected to kick in next month.