What's happening Shares of RH (NYSE: RH) were down sharply on Thursday afternoon, as a broad-based market sell-off stoked by virus fears hit retail stocks especially hard. As of 1:30 p.m. EDT, RH's shares were down about 10.7% from Wednesday's closing price. So what RH is the company formerly known as Restoration Hardware, a retailer of luxury home furnishings. While RH does have an online store, it's primarily a brick-and-mortar operation with over 100 stores worldwide, mostly in the U.S. and Canada. Image source: RH. Like shares of other brick-and-mortar retailers, RH's stock is being hit hard by concerns that "social distancing" actions taken to slow the spread of COVID-19 will sharply reduce retail foot traffic for at least several weeks. There are already signs that virus concerns are keeping some U.S. consumers out of retail spaces. In a note on Wednesday, a Morgan Stanley analyst team led by Kimberly Greenberger said that U.S. luxury retail traffic fell 14.7% last week, as news organizations put more focus on the virus outbreak. Overall retail traffic fell 9.1%, they said. Now what RH investors will get an update before long. The company hasn't yet announced a date for its fourth-quarter and fiscal-year 2019 earnings report, but it's likely to happen in the last week of March. Investors should pay attention to the company's earnings call: CEO Gary Friedman is likely to face tough questions from analysts about the company's outlook over the next few months. 10 stocks we like better than RHWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.* David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the ten best stocks for investors to buy right now... and RH wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys. See the 10 stocks *Stock Advisor returns as of December 1, 2019 John Rosevear has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends RH. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.Source