Over the past week, people in the Northeast have been dealing with the after math of the blizzard that struck over the holiday weekend, but even worse hit are retailers that lost out on huge post-Christmas holiday shopping as people were forced to stay at home.

While it is impossible to put an exact number on just how much retailers lost out on, ShopperTrak, who tracks sales and customer traffic at over 70,000 stores and malls, estimated that retailers lost around $1 billion during the blizzard.

Continue reading Blizzard Hits Retailers Hard

Blizzard Hits Retailers Hard originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 29 Dec 2010 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Simon Properties Still Wants a Piece of GGP

Simon Properties Still Wants a Piece of GGP originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 15 Apr 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Several national chains are talking up demands for reduced retail rents at locations across the country, according to a post in BNET.

That can't be good news for strapped mall operators, such as Simon Property Group (NYS: SPG), which have recently seen their fortunes turn upwards on the backs of analyst upgrades and economists calling a bottom to the Great Recession.

Continue reading Retail Rent Rebellion: Will mall operators cave in to tenants?

Retail Rent Rebellion: Will mall operators cave in to tenants? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 29 Apr 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Doomsday Scenario: Hedge funds front running clients, Twitter bubble peaks

Doomsday Scenario: Hedge funds front running clients, Twitter bubble peaks originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 20 Mar 2009 15:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Doomsday Scenario: Just the numbers, ma'am

Doomsday Scenario: Just the numbers, ma'am originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 04 Mar 2009 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE: ANF), the hip clothing store that competes with The Gap, Inc. (NYSE: GPS) and J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE: JCP), is no different than any other retailer. Christmas is going to hurt... hurt bad. Make no mistake. And as far as earnings reports goes, the pattern is in: report a decline, then issue some nasty guidance.

Abercrombie reported Q3 numbers today, and according to the press release, net sales decreased 8%, and earnings per diluted share declined 44% to $0.72. As Melly Alazraki reported this morning, that $0.72 beat analyst estimates. But the market could care less. As Melly pointed out, the full-year outlook was cut. The stock sold off upon the news. In fact, as I write this, the stock is down nearly 15%. By the way, if by the time this is published the market is up and Abercrombie's shares are trading in the green (big if, granted), don't even think it's a buy. Put that out of your mind. Did you see the same-store sales? They were down 14% for the quarter. That figure is grabbing the attention of investors, I'm sure. When you see a downturn like that, well, you know things aren't going to turn around quickly.

Abercrombie's woes will be with it for a while. Management will find it difficult to strike the right balance between staffing the stores properly and increasing marketing activities. All retailers will be in the same boat. The stock hit a new 52-week low today of $18.83. My guess is that the stock will be as volatile as the market, and that it will trend in a downward direction over the next couple months. Obviously I don't think it's a buy. Broken stock and broken fundamentals aren't a great combo. Abercrombie continues to plan for new store openings in fiscal 2008; perhaps those investments will pay off down the line. For now, the retail sector is doing horribly, competition in the sector is becoming cutthroat as consumer confidence loses value, and I continue to look at only two names -- Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) and Target (NYSE: TGT) -- as possible long-term values. Yep, Abercrombie & Fitch isn't so sexy anymore.

Disclosure: I don't own any company mentioned; positions can change at any time.

Abercrombie & Fitch's Q3 not so cool originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 14 Nov 2008 15:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Kohl's Corp (NYSE: KSS) reported Q3 earnings on Thursday after the bell. I didn't like what I saw. I couldn't find anything in there that would make me think the stock is a buy at this time. Well, there were a couple good points, but they didn't sway me.

Net revenues were pretty much flat at $3.8 billion. The bottom line came in at $0.52 per diluted share. Last year at this time, Kohl's delivered $0.61 per diluted share in net income. That's a 15% drop, and that isn't good, even if earnings beat expectations by a penny.

So, we got a flat top line and a declining bottom line. Want some more bad news? This is probably the worst metric: same-store sales decreased well over 6% for the quarter. Plus, they declined 6% for the nine-month period. As can be seen, things are getting worse for Kohl's. Same-store sales are indeed a key measure of a retailer's strength, so even though management did well in terms of gross margin and operational cash flow (the latter took a big jump, moving up 175% due to changes in working capital relating to inventories), I can't find it within me to be even remotely bullish on this business.

Continue reading Don't buy Kohl's (KSS)

Don't buy Kohl's (KSS) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 14 Nov 2008 08:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Bloomberg News reports that vacancies are rising fast. It notes that the average vacancy rate at neighborhood and community malls rose to 8.2%, up from 7.3% in 2007 and the highest level since 1995. And at regional and super-regional malls, vacancies increased to 6.3%, up from 5.6 % in 2007.

Sam Chandan, chief economist of research firm, Reis Inc., told Bloomberg that the amount of retail space being abandoned, "consistent with store closures, is at its highest level in almost 28 years." What's going on? Retailers --such as Linens 'n Things, Sharper Image, Lillian Vernon, Bombay and Levitz Furniture -- have filed for bankruptcy.

Why so many bankruptcies? It could be that with housing prices down 15% and 3 million mortgages in foreclosure people can't borrow the money they formerly used to purchase the goods that these malls sell. With consumer demand dropping and vacancies on the rise, it's surprising that rents are increasing at all.

Continue reading Mall vacancies and store closures at 28-year-high

Mall vacancies and store closures at 28-year-high originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 07 Jul 2008 09:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Many Savers, Few Spenders Leave South China Mall Almost Empty.



China has the highest savings rate of any country in the world (about 30% of household income) and people are electing to invest their expanding wealth rather than buy stupid stuff.

Meanwhile, our savings rate is negative, and people are struggling to come up with the money to fill up the Hummers they use to drive to work in cubicles. Something went badly wrong in the good old US of A, and our complaints about communism aside, we might do well to look to China to find out how to fix it.

Gallery: Signs of a global recession?

The world's largest mall is the world's largest flop originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 23 Jun 2008 15:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.