Ms. Zackfia: That's correct. We see some strengthening of sales trends at concepts that target an upper-middle-class consumer. We certainly saw evidence of that in the second quarter versus the first quarter - my guess is because the stock market has rebounded from its lows. I think that strengthening is a pretty interesting trend if it holds going into the holiday season.
TWST: So that has happened throughout the second quarter?
Ms. Zackfia: If you look at concepts that really target that upper-middle-class
consumer, for the most part, one-year trends have improved sequentially as well
as two-year comp trends, which is a nice sign of underlying strengthening. Don't
get me wrong, trends are still weak, but they appear to be getting stronger
sequentially. And that's pretty interesting, as we begin to lap what I call
"consumer Armageddon" in the fourth quarter.
Tickers included in this excerpt: ANN, ARO, CHS, HOTT, JCB, LULU, TLB, URBN
For more information call (212) 952 7433. The Wall Street Transcript does not endorse any of the comments made by interviewees, and does not make stock recommendations.