Jos. A Bank’s Blow-Out Quarter

The S&P 500 looks to open higher again today. I think the index has a good chance of breaking 1,220 today, the final trading day of the month. Frankly, August has been a terrible month for the market. We closed July at 1,292.28.

Today could be the fourth up day in a row. I have to repeat myself from the other day. Imagine if this statement turned out to be true: “The sell-off ended three weeks ago and we’ve already gained back close to 40% of what we lost.”

The big economic news this morning was the ADP report which showed that the economy created 91,000 private sector jobs in August. The government will release its employment numbers on Friday.

Jos. A Bank Clothiers ($JOSB) reported outstanding second-quarter earnings this morning of 74 cents per share which was six cents more than estimates. Revenues were very strong, up 22.5% to $230.7 million. The consensus was $210.8 million so that’s a big beat. Same-store sales rose 14.7% and year-over-year direct marketing sales rose 27.8%.

After the hiccup we saw for Q1, I can safely say that this was a very strong quarter.

“With this quarter’s results, we have achieved earnings growth in 39 of the past 40 quarters when compared to the respective prior year periods, including 21 quarters in a row,” said R. Neal Black, the company’s president and CEO, in a statement. “While sales are just one component of overall profit and August is a relatively small sales month, our comparable store sales in August are up slightly compared to the same period last year, despite the impact of the recent hurricane.”

The stock has gapped up 10% this morning.

Posted by on August 31st, 2011 at 9:31 am


The information in this blog post represents my own opinions and does not contain a recommendation for any particular security or investment. I or my affiliates may hold positions or other interests in securities mentioned in the Blog, please see my Disclaimer page for my full disclaimer.

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