Continue reading Holiday Sales Falling Short of Expectations

Holiday Sales Falling Short of Expectations originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 06 Jan 2011 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Monday morning, Amazon.com (AMZN) announced that the third-generation Kindle is now its best-selling product of all time, unseating former title-holder Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Amazon didn't provide specific sales figures for the e-reader, but the retail giant added that more Kindle books were purchased this past Christmas Day than on any other day in history -- confirming that the gadgets are quite a popular gift.

Meanwhile, Nov. 29 -- or "Cyber Monday" -- was the peak day for holiday shopping on Amazon. More than 13.7 million items were ordered worldwide on the Monday after Thanksgiving, which translates to about 158 items per second.

Continue reading Amazon.com Boasts of Blowout Kindle Sales

Amazon.com Boasts of Blowout Kindle Sales originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 27 Dec 2010 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Galactic super-retailer Walmart Stores (WMT) released its highly anticipated third-quarter earnings report this morning. The company reported a 9.3% increase in profit, thanks mainly to growth abroad. Excluding tax benefits, Walmart pulled in 90 cents per share during the quarter; matching the consensus estimate and making many investors rather happy.

Looking ahead, the retailer forecast fourth-quarter earnings between $1.29 and $1.33 per share. The lower end of this range is a penny better than the Street's expected earnings of $1.28 per share. As for the full year, the retailer now expects to earn $4.12 per share, a full seven cents better than its previous forecast.

Continue reading Walmart Earnings Inline with Estimates

Walmart Earnings Inline with Estimates originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 16 Nov 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading National Retail Federation Expects Moderate Holiday Sales Increase

National Retail Federation Expects Moderate Holiday Sales Increase originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 06 Oct 2010 15:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

On Tuesday evening, I took a different route home than usual, and drove past my local Blockbuster (BBI) store. It was hard not to notice the brand new "Store Closing" sign, and my carpool buddies and I briefly discussed the stiff competition the chain is facing from Netflix (NFLX) and smaller rival Redbox.

Well, in light of last night's updated fiscal-year outlook, I'm beginning to think I may have witnessed a real-life bad omen (feel free to email me for your own psychic reading). After Wednesday's closing bell, Blockbuster confessed that its preliminary fourth-quarter and full-year results were unexpectedly weak -- and as a result, shares of the penny stock are slipping ever closer to theoretical support at zero.

Continue reading More Pain for Blockbuster After Weak Forecast

More Pain for Blockbuster After Weak Forecast originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 21 Jan 2010 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Day After Christmas Tops All but Black Friday for Retailers

Day After Christmas Tops All but Black Friday for Retailers originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 04 Jan 2010 10:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The holidays have ended, and the real sales have begun. Those choosing to sacrifice sentimentality for savings found retailers only too willing to help, as prices were slashed in the wake of the Christmas rush. Recipients of gift cards stand to see their purchasing power extended, as well, now that redemption time has arrived, and retailers are looking to squeeze in any extra sales they can to pump up their top lines before the books close on the fiscal year, which, for many, comes at the end of January.

Toys "R" Us has offered a deal on Nintendo (NTDOY) Wii games, with the second coming at half price, and Target (TGT) is nearly halving the price of wine glasses and dropping the tag on an argyle women's sweater by nearly a third. Walmart (WMT), which kicked off its cuts at the end of September, is throwing a $50 gift card on top of any Microsoft (MSFT) Xbox 360 buy.

Continue reading After Christmas, Retailers Pick Up the Pieces

After Christmas, Retailers Pick Up the Pieces originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 28 Dec 2009 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Don't Put an Economic Recovery on Your Christmas List

Don't Put an Economic Recovery on Your Christmas List originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 25 Dec 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The price at the cash register ticked higher in October, though it was driven by the cost at the pump and on the lot.

Energy prices and new car sales (the highest in 28 years) pushed consumer prices upward in October, they're still cheaper than they were a year earlier. The Labor Department reports that consumer prices edged up 0.3% last month, a tad higher than the 0.2% anticipated. Take food and energy out of the equation, and inflation rose 0.2%, again ahead of the 0.1% that analysts expected.

Continue reading Energy, auto sales push consumer prices higher in October

Energy, auto sales push consumer prices higher in October originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Every day, it's becoming clearer that e-readers will be the hot holiday gifts of 2009. Amazon (AMZN) is obviously in the game with its Kindle, with which it took an early lead in the industry. Barnes & Noble (BKS) has made a play with its new Nook reader, applying some pressure to what was once a wide open space.

Even though we're still short of Black Friday, the weeding process has begun. Sony (SNE), which is also in the e-reader market, has revealed that it makes no guarantees about delivery by Christmas.

Continue reading No guarantees: Sony loses e-reader edge

No guarantees: Sony loses e-reader edge originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 19 Nov 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

No, don't expect to see windmills and solar panels -- consumers are leaning toward a different kind of green this holiday season: cash. Rather than hit their credit cards, shoppers will only be spending money they have (and can see and touch). Seventy-one percent of consumers are looking to cash and debit cards as their primary form of payment for holiday shopping this year, which the National Retail Foundation pegs as the highest level since 2005.

This could be a problem for the retailers.

Sure, you'd think that the merchant fees on credit cards make cash more attractive to the sellers. But, Ellen Davis, a spokesperson for the NRF, says that most retailers have found they can talk credit card buyers into up-sells more easily. That leads to a bigger basket size and more revenue. Done successfully, it should comfortably absorb the impact of merchant fees. James Roberts, a marketing professor at Baylor University, adds that using plastic makes consumers more likely to buy at all, let alone more.

Continue reading Shoppers going green for Christmas

Shoppers going green for Christmas originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

There's a chill in the air and a slight up-tick in confidence. Holiday discounts are coming a bit earlier, too. For retailers, this has been a great combination, leading to the second consecutive month in which retail sales increased.

This follows more than a year of drops. Consumers aren't going crazy, but they are loosening their wallets a little bit. Consumer spending accounts for 70% of the U.S. economy, and the coming holiday season is where the action is -- for the retail sector and, consequently, for everyone else.

Continue reading Retail sales: Signs of life, but not yet a rising tide

Retail sales: Signs of life, but not yet a rising tide originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

It's going to get worse before it gets better, according to Stone & McCarthy Research. Early 2010 has "the more troublesome outlook," as the economy will have to walk on its own, the research firm says. This year, it's had a pair of crutches: tax credits for first-time home buyers and the cash-for-clunkers program. So, if the stimulus hasn't taken hold by the end of the year, the first quarter could be a bruiser.

The firm adds that "continued growth in aggregate demand" is needed, bringing the discussion back to consumer spending . . . which is where it will always land. We're likely to see the 3.2% growth rate from July through September drop to 2.4% at the end of the year because the crutches will have been gone. And, let's not forget that unemployment is expected to break the 10% level next year.

Continue reading Stone & McCarthy suggest: Make it to March

Stone & McCarthy suggest: Make it to March originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 13 Oct 2009 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Investors in luxury leather goods maker Coach Inc. (NYSE: COH) saw their shares tumble earlier this week when the company announced that profit fell 14% in its second fiscal quarter.

Coach earned 67 cents per share for the quarter compared to earnings of 69 cents per share in the year-ago quarter, and sales fell 1.8% to $960.3 million. Gross margin narrowed to 72.1% from 75.4% last year.

Like many other companies, Coach did not provide guidance for the balance of the fiscal year, signifying its lack of visibility going forward. But the company did try to assure investors by pointing to its nearly debt-free balance sheet and large cash position. Shares fell by as much as 15% during trading on Wednesday, but rallied to halve that loss later in the day.

In order to "protect our brand identity," CEO Lew Frankfort said the company resisted discounting during the holiday season. It paid a steep price to do so, because other retailers' heavy discounts hurt traffic at Coach's stores and in department stores.

Continue reading Coach no longer first class

Coach no longer first class originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 24 Jan 2009 13:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Massive bookselling chain Borders Group, Inc. (NYSE: BGP) reported today that holiday sales for the nine-week period ended Jan. 3 fell to $868.8 million, down 11.7% from a year ago. Same-store sales for the holiday season plunged 14.4%. The retailer said that holiday sales started off slow, but accelerated as the season continued.

Additionally, the bookseller said that CEO George Jones will be replaced by private equity executive Ron Marshall. The new chief executive has previously helmed turnarounds at food distributor Nash Finch Co. and supermarket chain Pathmark Stores Inc. Borders stated that the new appointment will help to "more aggressively drive a turnaround of the company within today's challenging economy."

Borders Group is also getting a new chief financial officer; Mark Bierley will be internally promoted to the position, replacing Ed Wilhelm.

BGP could definitely benefit from Marshall's turnaround prowess. The stock has endured a stomach-churning 52-week plunge of 95.2%, and is currently trading below 50 cents per share. By contrast, competitor Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS) surged more than 9% today after scoring an upgrade from Sell to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

Elizabeth Harrow is an analyst and financial writer in the research department at Schaeffer's Investment Research. She is featured in the video series Schaeffer's Daily Q&A on SchaeffersResearch.com.

Borders Group confesses to plunging holiday sales, names new CEO originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 05 Jan 2009 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

As the calendar year winds down, the news no doubt will be full of stories (like the one below from AP) analyzing incoming holiday sales figures and speculating on what they mean for the big picture.

About the only confirmed company reporting quarterly earnings results next week is Cal-Maine Foods Inc. (NYSE: CALM), the largest producer/distributor of eggs in the U.S. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters are, on average, looking for the Jackson, Miss.-based company to report earning $1.26 per share in its fiscal second quarter. That's 25.4% lower than in the same period of the previous year. In its first-quarter report back in September, Cal-Maine also reported a drop in net income as rising feed costs offset increased demand. While the share price has fallen 22.2% in the past three months, it is up 14.0% from a year ago. Cal-Maine recently completed its acquisition of a Tampa Bay egg producer.

Economic data scheduled to be released this week include:

Continue reading The week in preview: Holiday sales, Cal-Maine Foods

The week in preview: Holiday sales, Cal-Maine Foods originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 28 Dec 2008 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Before the Bell: Stocks seem to shrug off awful holiday spending data originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 26 Dec 2008 08:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Weather.com seems like a boring site, unless you are in the middle of a storm. It is actually a worthwhile exercise to look at how much snow is on the ground, particularly going into a big holiday weekend.

Shoppers are probably not going to get out much from Wisconsin to Boston. The Pacific Northwest and Northern Plains are about to be hit by a blizzard.

All of that is to say that the weekend the nation's retailers need to "catch up" on weak holiday sales, is likely to be a bit of a bust. Hard to buy things when you can't make it to the store.

According to Reuters, "Retailers prepared to open their doors early on Saturday in a final, frenzied push to save holiday sales, with the added disruption of a winter storm hitting the country's Midwest and Northeast.."

Wouldn't the intrepid shoppers come out anyway with Christmas just days away? Maybe not. People like to cover up the embarrassment of being broke. A storm is just the things.

And in Seattle, they are expecting seven inches of snow. Short Sears (NASDAQ: SHLD) on Monday.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Retailers need this weekend, weather may keep customers away originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 20 Dec 2008 06:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The family of Jdimytai Damour who was trampled to death in a Long Island Wal-Mart Stores (NYSE: WMT) on Black Friday is suing the retailer in New York State Supreme Court in the Bronx. The complaint alleges that Wal-Mart's advertising created the "environment of frenzy and mayhem" that caused Damour's horrible death.

Despite the death, Wal-Mart continued running the advertisement in question -- which the complaint alleges is intended to attract the kinds of large crowds that asphyxiated the 6-foot-5, 270-pound Damour after a crowd crushed him at 5 a.m. on Friday when it broke open electronic doors as the store opened. Four others, including a woman who was eight months pregnant, were also hospitalized.

I think Wal-Mart will pay for its share of the responsibility for this death. The legal theory here may not work though.

I'd welcome any thoughts from the legally trained among you. Sadly, none of this will bring back Damour. But his family should be compensated.

Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He has no financial interest in Wal-Mart securities.

Did Wal-Mart ad commit Black Friday murder? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 04 Dec 2008 15:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Buy.com has best sales ever on Cyber Monday originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 03 Dec 2008 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.