Maybe the consumer isn't doing so badly after all?
The Gap CEO Richard Dickson said in the earnings call that despite "widely reported macroeconomic pressure on the low-income consumer," Gap Inc. saw "growth across all income cohorts."
Shares are up 8% premarket.
Yesterday, Walmart was also fairly upbeat on the consumer and the holiday season.
The Gap did highlight some trade-down from higher-income consumers, similar to Target shoppers going to Walmart.
"More high-income consumers [are] choosing Gap," Dickson said.
A major indicator of consumer health is their willingness to pay full price versus waiting for sales. Both Old Navy and Gap saw average unit sales rise and lower discounting.
On the downside, there could be some price hikes in the pipeline. The company said tariffs negatively impacted gross margin by an estimated 190 basis points in Q3.
Similarly, Ross Stores shares are up 3.5% in the pre-market and the call was constructive after the company reported a 7% rise in comp sales.
Management explicitly stated they did not see a "trade-down", higher traffic and larger baskets.
