EmailThe consumer discretionary group is faring modestly better than the broader market in early trade. The retail group is in the red with the Retail HOLDRS Trust (RTH) down 2.5% and the SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT) down 3.2%. Trading higher following earnings/guidance: MLHR +6.7%, SCHL +4.3%... Trading lower following earnings/guidance: KMX -9.1%, MTN -5.5%, RAD -3.7%... Near unchanged mark following earnings/guidance: BBBY.
Other notable mentions: Construction homebuilders under pressure (XHB-3.6%): Standard Pacific (SPF -5.0%) and Lennar (LEN -4.4%) gapped down despite being upgraded before the open. SPF was upgraded to Neutral from Underweight at JPMorgan and LEN was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Citigroup. Hovnanian Entrpr (HOV -3.7%) downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at JPMorgan. PHM-7.1%, RYL-5.8%, DHI -5.2%, MTH -5.4%, MHO -4.7%, TOL -4.4% are also lower.
Analyst related: Netflix (NFLX +1.8%) was upgraded to Outperform at Wedbush and upgraded to Neutral from Sell at UBS. HJ Heinz (HNZ -1.2%) initiated with a Buy at Jefferies. Family Dollar (FDO flat) and Dollar General (DG flat) initiated with Buys at Guggenheim Securities. Steven Madden (SHOO -1.5%), DSW (DSW -2.8%), Deckers Outdoor (DECK -3.3%), lululemon athletica (LULU -4.5%) initiated with a Buy at Auriga. Skechers USA (SKX -3.6%) initiated with a Hold at Auriga. lululemon athletica initiated with a Buy at Argus. Tesla Motors (TSLA -1.7%) was initiated with a Outperform at Robert W. Baird. Walgreens (WAG -2.8%) and CVS Caremark (CVS -2.6%) initiated with a Hold at Deutsche Bank. Hershey Foods (HSY -1.8%) initiated with a Hold at Jefferies. Under Armour (UA -4.5%) was downgraded to Hold at Needham. Diamond Foods (DMND -3.8%) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies. Procter & Gamble (PG -2.4%) was downgraded to Neutral from Buy at SunTrust. Urban Outfitters (URBN -3.5%) was downgraded to Underperform at Wedbush.
