Companies and Subjects discussed in this morning's report include: Lululemon reports in-line quarter but notes slower recent trend, results from G-III, Zumiez and Torrid, Walmart Express now delivering Subway orders, Five Below moves on from Five Beyond, very strong May jobs report raises rate hike concerns...
DoRCR Reports are for Individual Paid Subscribers | Pls Do Not Share Internally or Externally
DoR Consumer Research
Investor Oriented | Retail & Consumer
Friday, June 5, 2026 | Published Daily by ~11:30 AM ET
Results from Lululemon, G-III, Zumiez and Torrid and a Very Strong May Jobs Report in Focus...
NEXT WEEK'S CALENDAR
UPDATED EACH MORNING
All Times Are Eastern
Monday (6/8)
- DoRCR publishes its proprietary weekly Store Opening/Closing Analysis
- Duluth Trading reports 1Q26, call 8:30 am, Street at sales/EPS of $93.7M/($0.39)
- Duluth Trading Investor Day at 11:00 am, will be webcast
Tuesday (6/9)
- Macy's at the Evercore ISI Consumer & Retail Conference
- e.l.f. Beauty at the virtual Oppenheimer Consumer Growth & E-Comm Conference
- Lands' End reports 1Q26, call 8:00 am, no Street consensus estimates
- Designer Brands reports 1Q26, call 8:30 am, Street at flat comps, EPS of $0.03
- Existing Home Sales for May at 10:00 am, Street at 4.07M SAAR vs. prior 4.02M
- Academy Sports reports 1Q26, call 10:00 am, Street at comps up 2.5%, EPS of $0.91
- FIGS at the virtual Oppenheimer Consumer Growth & E-Comm Conference at noon
- Walmart at the virtual Oppenheimer Consumer Growth & E-Comm Conference at 3:00 pm
- Casey's reports 4Q26 after the close, Street at comps up 4.9%, EPS of $3.31
- BARK reports 4Q26, call 4:30 pm, Street at sales/EPS of $96.3M/($0.35)
- Tapestry doing a dinner with investors in NYC, hosted by BTIG
Wednesday (6/10)
- Steve Madden doing investor meetings in Boston, hosted by Needham
- Chewy reports 1Q26, call 8:00 am, Street at sales/EPS of $3.35B/$0.24
- J.Jill reports 1Q26, call 8:00 am, Street at comps down 7.9%, EPS of $0.42
- Consumer Price Index for May at 8:30 am, Street at +4.3% y/y vs. prior +3.8%
- Casey's 4Q26 call at 8:30 am
- Walmart at the Evercore ISI Consumer & Retail Conference at 9:50 am
- Fossil doing a call with investors at noon, hosted by Northland
- Oxford Industries reports 1Q26, call 4:30 pm, Street at sales/EPS of $391.8M/$1.29
- Stitch Fix reports 3Q26, call 5:00 pm, Street at sales/EPS of $333.5M/($0.06)
Thursday (6/11)
- Walmart doing meetings at the D.A. Davidson Technology & Consumer Conference
- Producer Price Index for May at 8:30 am, no y/y Street estimate yet, prior +6.0%
- Jobless Claims for the week ended 6/6/26 at 8:30 am, no Street estimate yet, prior 225K
- Lovesac reports 1Q27, call 8:30 am, Street at sales/EPS of $136.3M/($1.05)
- Vera Bradley reports 1Q27, call 8:30 am, no Street consensus estimates
- RH reports 1Q26, call 5:00 pm, Street at sales/EPS of $792.6M/($2.09)
Friday (6/12)
- DoRCR publishes its proprietary Next Week's Calendar
- Lovesac at the virtual Oppenheimer Consumer Growth & E-Comm Conference at 9:45 am
- U. Mich. Sentiment for June (preliminary) at 10:00 am, Street at 48.5 vs. prior 44.8
**Colors Indicate Directional Change from First Time Shown in Our Calendar**
TODAY'S EARLY TRADING
The S&P Retail ETF (XRT) is down 0.3% as of ~10:50 am vs. a 1.0% decline in the S&P 500, which is lower after a very strong May jobs report raises concerns about a potential Fed rate hike.
- Weaker retail stocks include ZUMZ, which reported a mixed 1Q26 and warned about recent trends and is down 24%, also CAL (down 11%), DBI (down 10%), LVLU (down 8%) and LULU (down 8%, in-line 1Q26 but cut guidance and was downgraded by two firms).
- Stronger retail stocks include SNBR, which is up 65% on continued bankruptcy-concern volatility but still down 90%+ YTD, also CURV (up 14%, soft but better-than-expected 1Q26), GIII (up 10%, same), DBGI (up 9%) and AKA (up 6%).
MARKET-MOVING DEVELOPMENTS
All Stock Prices as of Last Close
- Reported total-company comps increased 1%, while constant-currency comps decreased 2%, and reported revs were $2.47B, up 2% y/y on a constant-currency basis.
- Full-price sales improved sequentially in North America, and management also noted "successful product capsules and activations across train, tennis and run."
- Internationally, comps increased 13% in China and 1% in the rest of the world.
- EPS were $1.69 vs. $2.60 last year and incorporated a 410 bps decrease in gross margin, driven in large part by a 330 bps decrease in product margin on tariffs and markdowns.
- Inventories look fine, up 2% y/y in dollars and down 4% on a unit basis.
- FY26 guidance: Revs of $11.00B-$11.15B, flat to down slightly y/y vs. prior guidance of up 2%-4%, and EPS of $10.95-$11.15 vs. $13.26 in FY25 and a prior $12.10-$12.30.
- Guidance excludes any potential IEEPA tariff refunds and any future stock buybacks.
- Lululemon opened five net new company-operated stores in the quarter, finished with 816 stores, and now expects to be closer to the low-end of 40-45 net new stores this year.
- On the Call, management noted a further slowing in trends toward the end of the quarter and into 2Q26 and guided second quarter revs down 2%-3% vs. the Street's +3% estimate and assuming a low-double-digit % decline in the Americas and in the US.
- Interim Co-CEO Meghan Frank also said negative press, both traditional and in social media, including coverage of founder Chip Wilson's proxy fight with the company and an investigation by Texas's AG into LULU's use of "forever chemicals," has hurt sales.
- DoRCR INSIGHT: Hard to find any silver linings here, beyond the sequential improvement in full-price sales in North America, and we could get another guidance reset, and a potential cut in the new store growth rate, after incoming CEO Heidi O'Neill joins the company in September.
Analyst Actions that could move retail stocks today:
- Lululemon (LULU, $124.92) BTIG downgrades from Buy to Neutral
- Lululemon (LULU, $124.92) BNP Paribas downgrades from Neutral to Underperform
OTHER DEVELOPMENTS
G-III Apparel (GIII, $32.04) had a soft but better-than-expected 1Q26 (April) with sales down 8% y/y to $536.0M and adjusted EBITDA of ($7.7M) vs. $19.5M last year, while gross margin increased 350 bps on good full-pricing selling and SG&A dollars increased 10%, and management reaffirmed full-year sales guidance of ~$2.71B, raised EBITDA, and made positive comments about the pending acquisition of Marc Jacobs via a 50/50 operating/licensing JV with WHP Global.
Zumiez (ZUMZ, $23.48) had a mixed 1Q26 (April) with upside comps of +4.0%, total sales growth of 5%, to $193.3M, and a slightly bigger-than-expected loss per share of ($0.82) vs. an ex-items ($0.66) last year, and mgmt noted strength in North America and positive mid-single-digit comps in Europe in the quarter but also called out "some softness in North America" in May.
- Mgmt guided 2Q26 well below the Street, noted "increasing pressure on consumers."
Torrid (CURV, $1.39) had a weak but slightly better-than-expected 1Q26 (April) with comps down 1.7%, total sales down 8% to $245.8M on previously announced store closings, and adjusted EBITDA of $17.6M vs. $27.1M last year, and management reaffirmed full-year guidance for sales of $940M-$960M vs. $1.00B in FY25 and adjusted EBITDA of $65M-$75M vs. $63.6M.
- Ex footwear, which Torrid has been repositioning, comps increased 1.2%.
- The company closed 20 stores in the first quarter to finish with 463 total.
Walmart's has integrated Subway restaurants with its Express Delivery service for select Walmart stores in CT, FL, GA, OH, PA and TX and plans to expand the program to ~1,400 Walmart stores by the end of this summer, release here, says it's the first restaurant integration within Express Delivery and noted customers -- who pay an add'l $10 fee for Express -- can have Express orders, from the store assortment and from Subway, delivered in as little as 30 minutes or less.
Five Below said during its first quarter call this week it has eliminated the "Five Beyond" section in stores, which rolled out in 2021 after successful testing and carried product above the $5 price point, and moved items into their relevant merchandise "worlds" within the store.
- The Five Beyond product is "perform(ing) better" with the new placement.
- The overwhelming majority, or ~80%, of items are still priced $5 and below.
COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE
Primark, which is part of the UK's AB Foods and currently has 42 US stores, will open its sixth store in Texas on Thursday, 6/25/26, 30K sf, at The Parks Mall in Arlington.
Aritzia (Vancouver, 140+ stores) opened a new store in St. Louis yesterday, at 1701 South Lindbergh Blvd at Plaza Frontenac, part of a plan to open 11-12 new US stores in its FY27 (March, 2027).
LoveShackFancy, which has 29 stores worldwide, will open its third store in Florida this summer, ~1K sf, at Hyde Park Village in Tampa Bay.
Abercrombie & Fitch opened a new store in NYC today, three floors, in SoHo, at 520 Broadway between Spring and Broome Streets, says here it is the "pinnacle expression of the brand."
MANAGEMENT UPDATES
We're not seeing anything too significant/noteworthy this morning...
MACRO/CONSUMER INSIGHT
Out at 8:30 am, Nonfarm Payrolls for May were much stronger than expected at +172K vs. the Street's +105K estimate and follow an upwardly-revised (by a significant amount) +179K in April, while Unemployment was unchanged in May at 4.3%, as expected, and Avg Hourly Earnings grew 3.4% y/y, down from +3.6% in April and reflecting a continued slower y/y growth trend.
- DoRCR INSIGHT: The labor market slowed significantly last year but appears to be in recovery mode despite AI, geopolitical instability/uncertainty, the spike in fuel prices, etc., and this is good for consumer spending, though higher fuel prices do erode discretionary spending power.
Out yesterday, Jobless Claims for the week ended 5/30/26 were higher than expected at 225K vs. the Street's 211K and up from a revised 212K the prior week but are still on the low side historically, while Continuing Claims, reported with a week's lag, decreased slightly, to 1.78M.
- DoRCR INSIGHT: The labor market slowed significantly last year but appears to be in recovery mode despite AI, geopolitical instability/uncertainty, the spike in fuel prices, etc., and this is good for consumer spending, though higher fuel prices do erode discretionary spending power.
Out Wednesday, ADP Employment for May was slightly better than expected at +122K vs. the Street's +120K estimate and accelerated modestly from a revised +105K in April on more broad-based hiring than in the last few years, while pay for "job stayers" was unchanged at +4.4% y/y.
- DoRCR INSIGHT: The labor market slowed significantly last year but appears to be in recovery mode despite AI, geopolitical instability/uncertainty, the spike in fuel prices, etc., and this is good for consumer spending, though higher fuel prices do erode discretionary spending power.
Source: BLS and Bloomberg (for chart)
SELECT ANALYST ACTIONS
Lululemon (LULU, $124.92) BTIG downgrades from Buy to Neutral with no price target after the 1Q26 results, thinks trends could deteriorate further before any significant improvement even with initiatives around product, marketing and merchandising, also thinks management still hasn't fully diagnosed the root causes of the sharp deterioration in brand strength.
Lululemon (LULU, $124.92) BNP Paribas downgrades from Neutral to Underperform and lowers its target from $170 to $88 after the 1Q26 results, says it was a disappointing quarter that has brought weak fundamental trends back into focus and notes the soft guidance.
Search Select Analyst Actions for the past 12 months here
This material is for paid subscribers only
Full Terms of Use are available here
UNAUTHORIZED USE OR DISTRIBUTION IS UNLAWFUL
Disclaimer: DoR Consumer Research publishes a financial report of general and regular circulation which does not offer individualized investment advice attuned to any specific portfolio or any person’s particular needs. No mention of a particular security in our reports constitutes a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security, or that any particular security, portfolio of securities, transaction or investment strategy is suitable for any specific person.
Any reliance you place on such information is strictly at your own risk.
BEFORE SELLING OR BUYING ANY STOCK OR OTHER INVESTMENT YOU SHOULD CONSULT WITH A QUALIFIED BROKER OR OTHER FINANCIAL PROFESSIONAL TO VERIFY PRICING INFORMATION AND TO SOLICIT ADVICE AS TO THE APPROPRIATENESS OF A GIVEN TRANSACTION OR INVESTMENT.