Not-so-happy holidays at CompUSA
CompUSA's stock dumped as Wall Street frowned on comparable store sales figures. The fact that it outperformed competitors seemed not to matter.
The computer retailer chain said its second-quarter comparable store sales rose 1.5 percent despite fewer sales at the end of the holiday season.
But Wall Street was looking for CompUSA to pull in results closer to a 3 percent increase, and Goldman Sachs cut its rating to market perform, from outperform.
Still, CompUSA's rise in comparable store sales--a benchmark used to gauge the health of a chain and reflect sales from stores opened at least one year--comes as other electronics retailers were posting declines and shutting down stores and chains. Tandy (TAN), for example, last month said it would close its Incredible Universe computer store chain and about one-fifth of its Computer City stores in North America.
And major retailers such as Best Buy (BBY) and Circuit City said November same-store sales were down eight percent compared to the same time a year ago.
"Overall, we are pleased with our sales for the second quarter, especially with the cycling of last year's Windows 95 excitement and a softening of retail sales towards the end of the holiday season," said James F. Halpin, president and chief executive officer, in a statement.
CompUSA reported overall net sales of $1.2 billion for the quarter, up 22 percent from the same period a year ago.
The company said it will report its quarterly earnings result on January 29.
Reuters contributed to this report