Ms. Chen: Teen retailers, predominantly teen and contemporary.
TWST: Here we are halfway through the year. How have they performed in this
rotten economy?
Ms. Chen: They have actually performed rather well. Most of the retail space is
up significantly. Specialty retail on average is up anywhere about 50% year to
date, despite rather lackluster fundamentals because the expectation that the
worst is actually behind us has propelled the stocks higher.
TWST: Is there any reality to that expectation yet?
Ms. Chen: You are starting to see stabilization. Inventories are more in line
right now, so while companies are not getting top-line growth, you are not
seeing as significant margin deterioration as in the back half of 2008.
Expectations for the back half of this year could prove to be conservative,
given that numbers came down several times in 2008. So far this earnings season,
most companies have beat numbers and provided guidance in line or maybe even
better than expectations.
Tickers included in this excerpt: AEO, ANF, ARO, GES, TRLG, URBN, VFC
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