Return of the Retailer: Foot Locker, Abercromie Surge as Short-Sellers Get Squeezed (谈股论金)  810次阅读

作者: 雅歌 , 发表于: 2017-11-17 (2344天前) @ 新东

Return of the Retailer: Foot Locker, Abercromie Surge as Short-Sellers Get Squeezed

1:28 pm ET November 17, 2017 (Dow Jones) Print
By Chris Dieterich

Mall retailers are dead, right?

Tell that to investors who bid up shares of Foot Locker Inc. and Abercrombie & Fitch Co. to their biggest one-day gains in years. Both rose more than 20% apiece Friday after the pair posted same-store sales that were higher than expected, even as other business metrics highlighted ongoing challenges that have long dogged brick-and-mortar retailers.

Foot Locker soared 25% and was on pace for its largest single-day advance since at least 2001, when the company formerly known as Woolworth adopted its current name, according to WSJ Market Data Group. It was the biggest gain for the equity, including all name iterations, since at least 1973, according to Thomson Reuters DataStream. The stock soared even though the retailer posted a 3.7% decline in comparable-store sales. Quarterly per-share earnings came in at 87 cents versus Wall Street's forecast for 80 cents.

Through Thursday, only one S&P 500 stock -- Under Armour Inc. -- had suffered steeper year-to-date declines than Foot Locker, which limped into its quarterly earnings report Friday with a tumble of 55% so far in 2017 .

Abercrombie shot up 26%, its biggest one-day rise in five years and third-biggest on record. Sales at stores opened at least a year grew last quarter at the fastest rate in six years and adjusted per-share earnings of 30 cents topped forecasts for 22 cents.

In the face of mounting skepticism that retailers can compete against e-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc., retail stocks have had a banner week, propelled by a slew of upbeat earnings reports. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. surged 10% Thursday after the company reported its best sales growth in nearly a decade and showed that its e-commerce business was gaining traction. Ross Stores Inc. climbed nearly 10% on the week after its sales and earnings topped expectations.

All told, the SPDR S&P Retail exchange-traded fund that serves a proxy for the industry stocks climbed 3.9% for the week, the biggest rise in nearly a year.

Analysts said the surging stock prices reflect an environment in which even modestly positive updates from beaten-down retail companies can trigger outsize stock gains, as bears are forced to quickly cut positions. Apparel retailer stocks are among the most heavily shorted in the U.S. stock market, according to S3 Partners, a financial analytics firm. Short sellers borrow shares from other investors and sell them in the hope of buying them back at a lower price later.

Stiff share price declines and disappointing outlooks of companies such as J.C. Penney Co., Sears Holdings Corp. and numerous others have fed appetite from bears to bet against shares of retailers. Bearish bets against Foot Locker were valued at $457 million, according to S3; Abercrombie bears wagered about $191 million on further declines.

Short-sellers were punished Friday, with Foot Locker bears losing about $109 million in collective value on their short bets while Abercrombie shorts lost about $46 million, according to S3's Ihor Dusaniwsky.

Big price gains can cause short sellers to repurchase shares in order to close positions, a phenomenon known as a short squeeze.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 17, 2017 13:28 ET (18:28 GMT)

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