Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Barnes Group Inc. (NYSE: B) withdrew its 2009 earnings guidance due to uncertainty in transportation.
• Brown-Forman Corp. (NYSE: BF.B) Q4 profit beat estimates and it offered guidance for next year.
• Del Monte Foods Co. (NYSE: DLM) posted strong Q4 results on price increases and a better tax situation.
• FuelCell Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: FCEL) posted lower Q2 sales but announced a big order from South Korea.
• Men's Wearhouse Inc. (NYSE: MW) lower Q1 profit topped estimates but the outlook was in line.
• National Semiconductor Corp. (NYSE: NSM) Q4 net loss and fiscal-year profit both beat estimates.

Continue reading Earnings highlights: Del Monte, Men's Wearhouse, National Semiconductor, Talbots ...

Earnings highlights: Del Monte, Men's Wearhouse, National Semiconductor, Talbots ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 13 Jun 2009 15:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

99 Cents Only raises prices -- still under $1, sort of originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 09 Sep 2008 10:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Money magazine's Jean Chatzky has a pretty cool idea for a gift for your recent college graduate: a few sessions with a financial planner. Most kids need financial help, and many parents are ill-equipped to provide that. Even if a parent is wonderfully competent, kids may not want to hear it from them.

In addition to giving your child the services of a financial planner, I have a couple other ideas for small gifts to help your grad avoid the financial ditches that so many find themselves digging out of later in life:

• Suze Orman's The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous & Broke -- This book is pretty readable and covers pretty much everything a young un' needs to know: credit cards, housing, cars, investing, and frugality.
• A gift card to a store like Dollar Tree (NASDAQ: DLTR) or 99 Cents Only (NYSE: NDN) -- This would of course be tacky as a graduation gift on its own, but these are wonderful places to buy household items at great savings. If you can get someone into the habit of shopping at these kinds of stores, you will save them tons of money over the years.

For the fashion-conscious grad, you may also want to consider How to Be a Budget Fashionista. It's written with women in mind but much of the advice is pretty universal.

Time with a financial planner, and other gifts for the grad originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 01 Sep 2007 12:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

With daily reports in the financial press about the collapse of subprime lending, and the precarious position that lower-income Americans are finding themselves in, there's one group of retailers that may be destined to profit: Dollar stores. As people have to scrimp and save more to cover their ballooning mortgage payments, they may look to these discounters for household staples.

In addition, these companies are messing with big box retailers like Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) with competitive pricing and a smaller, more user friendly store-format.

Demographic trends are also helpful. Incomes at the lower-end are growing slowly and, as the baby boomer population ages, budget constraints may make these discounters more attractive.

These companies also tend to have simple business models, high turnover, and fairly predictable cash flows. While the private equity bull market appears to have waned, attractively valued dollar stores may still be attractive to some firms. KKR recently acquired Dollar General for $7.3 billion.

If you think dollar-stores have a bright future, you have a few investment options.

Continue reading Are dollar stores a good investment here?

Are dollar stores a good investment here? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 13 Aug 2007 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.