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Gap (GAP) shares surge after the retailer reported fourth quarter earnings, beating Wall Street's expectations. The stock moves to the upside despite indications that US President Donald Trump's tariffs could slow growth.
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This post was written by Naomi Buchanan.
Let's take a look at Gap. Shares are surging after the retailer blew past analyst expectations for its fourth quarter, issuing an in-line outlook, Gap noting that it will take a small hit to its margins this year because of tariffs. Our executive editor Brian Sozzi had the chance to speak with Gap CEO Richard Dickson. Asked him about the impact of tariffs and here's what he had to say.
Our goal always is to minimize the impact to the consumer. We've got to work hard to do that with any cost inputs that happen and you know, whether it's the price of cotton or oil or tariffs, these are circumstances that any high-performing company needs to deal with in their plans. So our ultimate goal as a consumer-centric company is to minimize the impact on the consumer.
Obviously, tariffs are huge concern here for Gap and and other competitors out there trying to figure out and decipher and navigate what has been a very, very uncertain time for a number of business leaders and really across industries. Obviously, uh, far reaching there. The implications as of that. But, when you take a look at these numbers and some of the trends that were very clear within this report, there is a lot to like. There was especially their namesake brand, Gap. That was called out by city, the 7% jump in comp sales, exceeding expectations by a wide margin. They also have strong results in Old Navy and in Banana Republic. On the flip side, Athleta struggling a little bit. I don't know how much to read into that, but I think the overall takeaway and given just the magnitude of the gains that we're seeing here this morning, the street very encouraged by the turnaround playbook and what has been um, undertaken and done so far under its CEO Richard Dixon and and what the quarters to come could potentially look like.
Yeah, and this is very anecdotal, but I feel like giving given the marketing and influencer marketing I've been seeing from Gap, I feel like they're potentially taking some market share from Abercrombie and Fitch, who we obviously saw struggling after their earnings print. And now, I'm just constantly seeing influencers talking about Gap as the new kind of it-girl brand in New York City. So we'll see if that continues to be the case on my Tik Tok for you page, but I I noted to you, Sean, I think that that decline in Athleta is really interesting, and if I I would be curious to learn if that is about Gap specifically, or if that's a decline in athleisure sales more broadly. Potentially, we'll get some clarity from the likes of Lululemon's earnings on that. Uh, we spoke with On Holding CEOs yesterday who are experiencing a lift in their athleisure apparel sales. So, wonder if that is specific again to Athleta and some pressure that they're seeing in terms of uh, consumer sales, and then of course I have to mention for our executive producer listening in, the Banana Republic has that new White Lotus line out today, so something to Success of that campaign. We'll continue to cover. It is expensive, very vacation friendly attire there.
Just looking at that up. Yeah.