Soleil Sees Retailers Reporting Weak December Comps; Says TJX, BIG, JAS the 'Exceptions'

Earlier, Soleil Securities put out a research note considering the retail sector following last year's busy holiday shopping season. In the report, entitled "Sales Will Not Tell the Whole Story in January", the firm argues that sales should be weak and misleading as retailers January numbers will include less clearance activity compared to the same month last year. On the other side, however, Soleil points out that "margins should be sharply higher."

Further, the firm believes that the stability of monthly sales at the end of '09 "should encourage more retailers to provide guidance in 2010." Soleil sees expense growth and inventory management remaining conservative.

Soleil said the following retailers will be "exceptions to the rule:" The TJX Companies (NYSE: TJX), Big Lots (NYSE: BIG) and JoAnn Stores (NYSE: JAS).

The SPDR S&P Retail ETF (NYSE: XRT) is up 0.87% today. Retailers are set to report December same store sales on Thursday, February 4. Stay tuned to StreetInsider.com's Retail Sales page to see all the breaking same store sales news.

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