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A GameStop store in Brooklyn, New York, on January 28, 2021.
Spencer Platt / Getty Images
GameStop’s
the fourth quarter earnings tax report is expected to be released after the market closes on Tuesday. Data from Placer.ai indicate that pedestrian traffic trends in stores were practically stable in January, but have been recovering in recent weeks.
Placer.ai tracked visitor counts, noting that GameStop’s weekly visits (ticker: GME) fell about 18% year-over-year during the week of December 28. This decline decreased to 12% the following week, but visitor trends dropped to the following four weeks.
The retailer noted improvement trends after the week that started on February 15, when pedestrian traffic dropped 26% year-over-year. Weekly visits dropped just 3.9% during the week that started on March 8. The company notes that this is the smallest gap year-over-year for GameStop in months.
“GameStop returned to the visiting levels found in early January and appears to be on a strong recovery trajectory towards spring,” wrote Ethan Chernofsky, vice president of marketing at Placer.ai, in a post.
While a reduction in Covid-19 restrictions in some states, coupled with less severe weather, may be the main factor in improving visits, Chernofsky notes that the brand may also be seeing a boost with renewed attention from the recent saga of GameStop shares.
The Wall Street consensus estimate predicts 4.7% year-on-year sales growth in the same stores during the fourth fiscal quarter, which ended in January, according to FactSet. The company announced on January 11 that same-store sales increased 4.8% during the nine-week vacation period, which ended on January 2. Still, e-commerce sales increased by 309%, which means that pedestrian traffic may not give the full picture.
The Placer.ai team notes that AMC Theaters also saw a recovery from a year-on-year decline of 79.2% during the week of February 15 to a year-on-year decline of 47.9% during the week of March 8 .
AMC Entertainment Holdings
stock (AMC) soared 489% YTD, while GameStop’s stock rose 932%.
Write to Connor Smith at [email protected]