Zara up in the UK, Levi Strauss loses fuel

Markets closed mixed on Tuesday, with Inditex's owned Zara

leading in the UK and Ann Taylor and Polo Ralph Lauren being big news in the Americas. Levi Strauss posted dissapointing figures, specially in Asia, where it fell for second consecutive trimester.

Zara posted Tuesday pre-tax profits in the UK that jumped 22 percent to 19.3 million pounds. The Inditex-owned retailer’s sales surged 10 percent to 368.8 million over the year.

Across The Pond, shares of Ralph Lauren traded down 1.33 percent during mid-day trading, hitting 154.22 dollars. Ralph Lauren has a 52 week low of 134.29 dollars and a 52 week high of 182.48. Piper Jaffray upgraded shares of Ralph Lauren (NYSE: RL) to an ‘overweight’ rating in a research note released on Tuesday morning.

Its competitor Ann Taylor, that has just opened its first store abroad – in Canada, currently retains a Zacks #1 Rank, what means a short-term ‘Strong Buy’ rating. “We believe the company's strategy of expanding internationally together with improving its e-commerce capabilities will boost its top and bottom lines,” an analyst from Zacks explains in a note released on Tuesday.

Elsewhere, Levi Strauss’ net revenue for the three months ended August 26 fell 8.6 percent to 1.1 billion dollars. Its net income dipped to 28 million dollars from 32 million dollars a year earlier. The company's gross profit margin held steady at 47.3 percent of sales in the third quarter, helped by lower cotton costs, reported Reuters. In the Americas - Levi Strauss’ core business-, segment sales dropped by 4 percent, excluding currency impacts. Sales in the Asia-Pacific region slumped 21 percent excluding currency impacts, while went down 3 percent in Europe, but excluding currency impacts they rose 12 percent. It’s worthy of note that in Asia, revenue slid for the second consecutive quarter, after a decline in wholesale sales and an economic slowdown the company said was particularly acute in India.