Why Casey's General Stores, Conn's, and Designer Brands Slumped Today
Wall Street lacked a clear sense of direction on Tuesday, with major benchmarks ending slightly lower after many market participants seemed content to wait for clearer signs on major issues like short-term interest rate policy and trade negotiations between the U.S. and China. Investors are also paying close attention to how the holiday shopping season is going, and its potential impact on the economy could play key a role in determining the market's direction in early 2020. Yet some news out of the consumer sector was poor, sending several stocks there lower. Casey's General Stores (NASDAQ: CASY), Conn's (NASDAQ: CONN), and Designer Brands (NYSE: DBI) were among the worst performers. Here's why they did so poorly.
Shares of Casey's General Stores fell more than 9% after the convenience store operator reported its fiscal second-quarter financial results. Casey's succeeded in making more from less, seeing earnings per share rise 23% even though total revenue was down about 2% year over year. But the company had mixed results at the gas pump, with total gallons sold rising over the period but same-store gallon sales falling 1.8%. Casey's saw better gains in the grocery and prepared food segments, but that part of its business is extremely competitive, and investors didn't seem entirely happy with the company's projections for the coming quarter.
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Source Fool.com
