New reports say that holiday spending was more than originally forecasted by retail trade groups. Lower priced retailers such as TJ Maxx and luxury retailers such as Neiman Marcus both showed better results than anticipated. Bloomberg reports:
Sales climbed 14 percent at TJX Cos.' stores open at least a year, beating the 5.9 percent average of analysts' estimates compiled by Retail Metrics Inc. Aeropostale Inc. jumped 10 percent, compared with a 3 percent projection. Sears Holdings Corp. posted a sales gain and issued a profit forecast that topped analysts' projections.
After an East Coast snowstorm snarled sales the weekend before Christmas, shoppers made up for it with online buying and discount hunting. A "last-minute sales surge" lifted December comparable-store sales 3 percent, the biggest gain since April 2008, Retail Metrics said today.
"Retailers are breathing a big sigh of relief here," Ken Perkins, president of Swampscott, Massachusetts-based Retail Metrics, said today in a telephone interview.
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Luxury retailers also beat sales estimates.
Nordstrom Inc.'s sales gained 7.4 percent, compared with a 1.7 percent estimate. Annual profit will exceed its forecast of $1.83 to $1.88 a share, the Seattle-based chain said.
Neiman Marcus Group Inc. posted a 4.5 percent gain. Grant Jordan, a fixed-income analyst at Wells Fargo Securities LLC in Charlotte, North Carolina, anticipated a 3 percent increase for the Dallas-based luxury retailer. Closely held Neiman Marcus doesn't provide forecasts.
The National Retail Federation isn't buying it. An NRF rep Kathy Grannis told Bloomberg "At this point we are not changing our forecast." The NRF forecast a 1% decline in spending from last year.
