Retailers’ plans to slide into a robust holiday period have hit a snag — at least as far as investors are concerned.
Shares for Target Corp. and Kohl’s Corp. are well into the red today after the former’s third-quarter profits fell 3 cents shy of estimates, while the latter’s Q3 actually topped analysts’ expectations across the board. (As of 11:10 a.m. ET, Target’s stock was in the hole more than 9 percent to $70.17, and that of Kohl’s was down more than 8 percent to $65.26.)
Some of Target’s sell-off is likely explained by its earnings miss and seemingly elevated inventories, but both firms are likely feeling the impact of marketwide losses as the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq all slid today to reverse 2018’s gains.
The Dow fell as much as 500 points in early-morning trading as investors offloaded mostly tech stock — with Apple and Boeing, in particular, seeing notable weakness. Facebook — which grappled with privacy issues this year — Google parent firm Alphabet, Amazon and Netflix also suffered losses today.
As of 11:10 a.m. the Dow remained down more than 360 points, or 1.5 percent, to 24,654.98. The Nasdaq was in the hole less than 1 percent to 6,960.88, and the S&P 500 had dipped just over 1 percent to 2,662.35.
The TJX Companies Inc. — parent of TJ Maxx and Marshalls — suffered a similar fate as Kohl’s, with investors looking past a solid Q3 performance to push shares down nearly 3 percent to $47.64. (TJX topped revenue and same-store sales forecasts for the period and raised its outlook.) Another plausible explanation for retail stocks moving lower today is investors are likely skittish going into the holiday period when things have been hit or miss for retail in recent years — as it shouldered a period of rampant bankruptcies. Some shareholders may have also hopeful that Target, which maintained its profit forecasts, would have raised its outlook today. TJX and Kohl’s, meanwhile, improved their fiscal guidance on the strength of their third-quarter performances but some investors expected a larger boost.
Shoe stocks also moved in tandem with the market, with Nike shares down nearly 2 percent and Under Armour in the red 1 percent. Famous Footwear parent Caleres slid more than 2 percent to $31.39, Shoe Carnival dipped 1 percent to $36.55, and Crocs shed 4.5 percent to $25.52.
(All stock performance recorded as of 11:15 a.m. ET.)