By Christiana Sciaudone
Investing.com -- Quarterly earnings for retailers came in better than expected -- but the outlook is less assured.
Walmart (NYSE:WMT) and Home Depot (NYSE:HD) posted huge increases in sales, but were trading lower as the good times may be in the past.
"The health crisis has created ... both tailwinds and headwinds to our business," Walmart's Chief Financial Officer Brett Biggs said on a call with investors, according to Reuters. "In Q2, we saw stronger-than-expected sales due in large part to stock-up buying and stimulus spending, but the duration and extent of future government stimulus remains uncertain."
Walmart fell 1% after showing slower sales in July without additional stimulus funds, despite reporting its best online revenue ever.
Home Depot reported its biggest increase in same-store sales in at least 20 years, but sought to rein in expectations for next year, with Chief Executive Officer Craig Menear noting on an earnings call that, “We can’t really extrapolate current performance to future performance."
Shares fell 1.3%.
Kohls Corp (NYSE:KSS) was getting hit the hardest on Tuesday, with shares tumbling 15.5% after dampening its outlook for the holiday season, even as it beat forecasts.
“As we look ahead, we are planning for the crisis to continue to impact our business in the near-term,” Kohls Chief Executive Officer Michelle Gass said in a statement.
Back-to-school has started out "soft," and the company is planning "conservatively" for the rest of the year, CNBC reported, citing Gass on a conference call.
Department store Nordstrom (NYSE:JWN) dropped 11% and Macy's (NYSE:M) was down 9.4%.
Kohls' fiscal second quarter results beat forecasts, with a loss per share of 25 cents comparing to an expected loss of 91 cents per share, on sales of $3.21 billion, compared to the estimated $3.02 billion, according to analysts tracked by Investing.com.