The markets continued lower today on concerns that the Fed may raise rates again soon. The Dow 30 was down 86 (-0.49%), the S&P 500 lost 7 (-0.37%), and the Nasdaq 100 lost 26 (-0.56%). Retail was the bright spot today as all the names that reported earnings posted positive results.
Urban Outfitters (URBN ) popped 13.95% today and may have put an end to all the bad news from retail lately. URBN announced that their sales rose 3% in the first quarter to $762.6 million while comparable retail sales climbed 1%. Urban Outfitters posted earnings per share of $0.25, flat from one year ago.
Walmart (WMT ) popped 9.58% today in its largest one-day move of the year. The world's biggest retailer beat analyst expectations in the first quarter. They also noted that U.S. comparable store sales rose 1%, topping Wall Street estimates of 0.5%. Walmart reported earnings of $0.98 per share on revenue of $115.9 billion.
Another retailer to announce a beat today was Dick's Sports Goods (DKS ). The sports retailer reported better-than-expected quarterly results, posting earnings per share of $0.50 on revenues of $1.66 billion. Online sales accounted for 9.2% of total sales, up from 8.5% one year ago. Shares popped 8.56% on this good news along with the earnings beats from the names in the retail sector.
Salesforce (CRM ) shot up 4.14% today as the company beat Wall Street estimates on both the top and bottom lines, reporting non-GAAP earnings per share of $0.24 on revenue of $1.92 billion. One analyst noted that Salesforce has beat revenue estimates every quarter since May 2007.
Tech giant, Cisco (CSCO ) added 3.18% today as the company reported earnings per share of $0.57 on revenue of $12 billion, topping analysts' expectations. Cisco also helped suppress fears about the tech-spending environment with its strong forecast.
