2148 GMT - Citi is incrementally more positive on Australia's small-cap retail sector following a good start to the Black Friday sales period. Analyst Sam Teeger highlights data from Kepler that signal shopping mall foot traffic up 6% and sales up 15% compared to the pre-Black Friday week last year. "While managing gross margin is a risk to consider in an environment where Black Friday is getting stronger, we think retailers are generally getting better at engineering inventory for the sales periods to manage margin," Citi says. Its top picks in small-cap retail are Universal Store and Accent. It is also buy-rated on Beacon Lighting and Nick Scali. (david.winning@wsj.com; @dwinningWSJ)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 28, 2024 16:48 ET (21:48 GMT)
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