Thoughts & Previews Into Next Week: US Consumer Sector Specialist Commentary

Research evidence excerpt

Briggs Barton - Specialist Sales - US Consumer AC

J.P. Morgan Securities LLC

North America Specialist Sales

JPMORGAN

14 August 2026

Thoughts & Previews Into Next Week

Briggs Barton

QUICK SUMMARY

QUICK POSITIONING WORD

Into next week, ROST is the most crowded long which will have the highest expectations. 2wks ago I would have said VIK

is just as crowded but recent River water level concerns have dinged NT sentiment a bit and muddied the waters into the

print.

TJX has felt like a relative HF short intra-qtr/still into the print but there is a lot of chatter around the Marmaxx bar being

pretty low - ofc the stock still carries more LO support but we haven’t seen as much of that demand lately.

On AS it really feels like positioning has lightened up as other growth names/sportswear names have sold off on prints

recently and ignited broader industry concerns - while slight beats are expected in Tech Apparel (Arc’teryx) and Outdoor

Performance (Salomon), it doesn’t feel like a super demanding setup overall. Our flows have been mixed on the name.

On WMT we think HFs are still more short and our flows as of late have been a mix of small shorts adding and some shorts

covering (more of this as bar overall seems low now) - their comments on BTS will also be closely watched. TGT is the

crowded HF long which will need a solid beat/raise to lift shares.

While zooming out positioning in HD is neutral at best as rates/macro hold back housing, would say its the relative HF long

for some vs LOW which is the HF short (miss/cut expected). We think sentiment on EL has also been gradually improving

since PUIG deal termination and upside is expected for Q4 (they already have a prelim ‘27 guide).

Will follow up w/ more early next week - have a great weekend!

- BB

Detailed JPM Research Previews

For WMT, TGT, HD, LOW, AAP, and BJ - C. Horvers detailed previews are HERE and HERE.

In Off-Price - M. Boss detailed preview HERE.

For AS - M. Boss detailed preview is HERE.

POSITIONING & SETUPS, BOGEYS, JPM RESEARCH PREVIEWS

Spec Sales Comments Unless Otherwise Noted

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