June May Have Been Tough for Women's Apparel Retailers

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With most retailers to report their sales from the previous month Thursday, Christine Chen, vice president of equity research-specialty retail at Needham & Co., foresees low sales numbers for women's apparel merchants, despite June being a clearance month.

"I would expect to see a lot of negative surprises coming out tomorrow from the likes of Anne Taylor, the likes of Gap," Chen said on "Power Lunch."

In particular, she referred to women's apparel retailer Chico's, which reported a -7.3% in retail sales Wednesday.

Chen has more faith in teen retailers' sales numbers.

"If you have the right fashion and are a teen retailer, I think business continues to be strong, as evidenced by teen retailer Guess," she said. Guess has expanded internationally, and its domestic business "continues to gain share and gain traffic," she added.

Chen also expects Pacific Sunwear and American Eagle to post high sales Thursday.

As for luxury stores, she likes Coach and Ralph Lauren and is confident they will perform well.

Overall, Chen expects stores with the most promotions during June to report the highest sales. "Those stores that were the most promotional definitely saw the highest traffic," she said.