Gap's August Sales Slip 6%, Miss Estimates

Slammed by slumping North American sales, Gap (NYSE:GPS) suffered a steeper-than-expected 6% dive in August same-store sales, sending the apparel makers stock sliding more than 3% Thursday morning.

San Francisco-based Gap disclosed deteriorating same-store sales across the board, highlighted by an 8% dive in Gap North America and a 9% drop off in international sales.

The company said its North American Banana Republic sales slid 4%, compared with growth of 6% the year before. Same-store sales at Old Navy North America fell 4%.

Overall, same-store sales at Gap dropped 6%, compared with estimates for a decline of just 3.8% and flat comparable sales for August 2010.

Were determined to make the necessary adjustments to womens product and marketing to improve our overall performance and drive top-line growth going forward, CEO Glenn Murphy said in a statement.

The results stood in contrast to a slew of retailers reporting stronger-than-expected August sales despite Hurricane Irene, including Costco (NASDAQ:COST), Target (NYSE:TGT) and Limited Brands (NYSE:LTD).

Shares of Gap declined 2.85% to $16.05 Thursday morning, underperforming the SPDR S&P Retail index, which slipped 0.40%.