What These 3 Key Retail Stocks' Mixed Signals Really Mean

Like many retail stocks this year, Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) recently reported poor first-quarter numbers and remained pessimistic about the rest of the year. Surprisingly, the shares bounced after the report. Meanwhile, fellow retailers Walmart (NYSE: WMT) and Target (NYSE: TGT) reported better first-quarter numbers, and shares of those companies cratered. Wall Street's expectations helped fuel this strange reaction -- but the analysts who drove those share gains or losses seem to be missing the point.

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Best Buy's first-quarter report showed that sales fell 8.5% from the same quarter last year. The report also revealed that sales from existing stores, also known as comparable sales, were down 8%, with GAAP earnings down 42%. Yet shares popped over 9% after the announcement.

Source Fool.com