Icahn, Durable Goods, Bed Bath & Beyond Weigh On Retail Stocks

Shares of retail stocks were under pressure on Thursday (Dec. 22) thanks to a mix of bad news, including a big drop in durable goods orders, lackluster earnings out of retailer Bed Bath & Beyond and Wall Street reports that rang a cautious tune for retail stocks heading into the new year.

According to a report, also pressuring retail stocks is President-Elect Donald Trump’s appointment of Carl Icahn as a special adviser to his administration. Retail chains that sell gas can benefit from the Renewable Identification Numbers program, or RIN, which Icahn is a critic of, according to the report.

Among the decliners in trading Thursday were Casey’s General Stores, Alimentation Touche Card, Murphy USA, Kroger, Sprouts Farmers Market, Supervalu, Ingles Markets and Weis Markets. Walmart, Target and Dollar General stocks were also trading lower.

In the case of durable goods orders, The Wall Street Journal reported that orders for durable goods, or those products that are made to last longer than three years, like cars and computers, fell 4.6 percent in November compared to October to a seasonally adjusted $228.17 billion. Economists polled by WSJ had expected a 5 percent decline. Civilian aircraft saw a steep decline in orders, which weighed on results, noted WSJ.

As for retailer Bed Bath & Beyond, MarketWatch reported the company posted third quarter earnings of $0.85 a share, which is down a lot from the $1.09 a share it earned last year. Results fell short of analysts’ expectations. Meanwhile, sales came in at $2.96 billion, which is slightly higher than the $2.95 billion it lodged in the year-earlier third quarter. Analysts were looking for earnings of $0.98 a share and sales of $3.01 billion. Same-store sales declined 1.4 percent during the quarter. The results prompted some Wall Street analysts to downgrade their view on the stock.