By Suzanne Kapner And Paul Ziobro 

Retailers got the gift of better-than-expected sales this holiday season.

About a dozen retailers have reported December sales so far, and the results support the perception that the industry turned in a solid performance in the crucial year-end period.

Sales excluding newly opened or closed locations came in higher than Wall Street's modest expectations for growth, a sign that sharply lower gasoline prices, declining joblessness and a stronger economy are spurring consumers to spend more, a trend that could continue into 2015, analysts said.

The stronger sales led nearly half of the retailers that reported results on Thursday to raise their financial forecasts for the current quarter, including American Eagle Outfitters Inc. and Aéropostale Inc., teen retailers that have been struggling to reinvent themselves. None of the retailers lowered their forecasts, according to Retail Metrics.

December sales excluding newly opened or closed stores rose 5%, more than the 3.9% that Retail Metrics had forecast. Even though much of that growth came from the strong performance of drugstores Rite Aid and Walgreens, all but two chains did better than expected for the period, according to Ken Perkins, a Retail Metrics research analyst. The exceptions were Costco Wholesale Corp., which sells gasoline and has been hurt by falling prices, and Fred's, a dollar store that has been struggling for several quarters.

Family Dollar said profit for the three months ended Nov. 29 fell 46%. Sales at established stores fell 0.4% because shoppers mainly came in to buy staples like groceries and tobacco, both of which have thin profit margins. But the retailer said sales and traffic rebounded in December, culminating in a rush of customers on Christmas Eve, the busiest single day in company's 55-year history. Same-store sales rose 1.2% in December while traffic increased more than 2%, the strongest in more than two years, Chief Executive Howard Levine said.

The upbeat early read on holiday sales is in contrast to last year, when sales fell short at many retailers, forcing them to lower their financial guidance and leaving them awash in unsold goods.

Some of the sales gains this year came at the expense of margins as a result of heavy discounting that started early in the season.

"This year's holiday environment in the fashion apparel industry was more promotional than any I can recall," said Richard Hayne, the chief executive of Urban Outfitters Inc.

Still, several retailers said traffic improved. Others, such as Aéropostale and L Brands Inc., which owns Victoria's Secret, said they finished the period with lean inventories, setting them up for a fresh start to the year.

Gap Inc., meanwhile, reported December sales rose 1%, slightly above analysts' expectations for an increase of 0.7%. Better-than-expected growth at its Old Navy brand was partly offset by a bigger-than-expected decline at its namesake chain.

The apparel retailer said its sales for the holiday-shopping season rose 3% from a year year earlier, led by 12% growth at its Old Navy brand for the November-December period.

The news follows results from J.C. Penney Co. earlier in the week, which said sales rose 3.7% in the nine weeks through the end of December. That compared with 3.1% growth for the same period a year ago, a result that sent the struggling department store chain's shares soaring.

Many of the companies are still facing serious challenges as they try to adapt to a world where shoppers are buying more online and browsing less in stores. Penney, for instance, is trying to reinvent itself after a failed overhaul that eliminated discounts and popular house brands turned off shoppers. And teen retailers have been struggling to stay relevant as their customers move away from logos to more individualized styles sold at cheaper fast-fashion chains.

Write to Suzanne Kapner at Suzanne.Kapner@wsj.com and Paul Ziobro at Paul.Ziobro@wsj.com

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