Continue reading Tween retailers provide a glimmer of hope for the retail sector

Tween retailers provide a glimmer of hope for the retail sector originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 08 Oct 2009 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Ann Taylor Stores (NYSE: ANN) implied volatility Increases to 50 into EPS. ANN is expected to report EPS on 8/24. BUCK says "we continue to project a recovery in the back half of the year." ANN September option implied volatility of 50 is above its 26-week average of 33 according to Track Data, indicating larger risk.

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE: ANF) volatility of 49 above 26-week average of 33 into EPS. ANF is recently up $2.18 to $74.92. ANF is expected to report EPS of .87 cents on August 22nd according to Thomson First Call. ANF has a market cap of $6.6 billion. Freidman Billings say's "Upgrading to Outperform; High-Quality name to weather Turbulent Times." ANF September option implied volatility of 49 is above its 26-week average of 33 according to Track Data, suggesting larger risk.

Volatility Index S&P 500 Options down .84 to 29.99.

Daily options Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

Option update 8-17-07; Ann Taylor & Abercrombie volatility increase into EPS originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 17 Aug 2007 17:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

I was once a teenager. Really. And I think I was, well, kind of uncool. I was actually a cheerleader, which was totally not cool in the late 80s and early 90s. I wore acid-wash jeans and shoulder pads and penny loafers, which were cool. Then.

So when I tell you that this new Wal-Mart thing is uncool, I should know. Because it looks a lot like me, in 1987. That girl on the left here, in one of the videos on Wal-Mart's new The Hub social networking site for teens, she looks eerily like my best friend, Courtney. Wearing the exact same clothes. Let me say this: in 2006, that is not a good thing.

No, Wal-Mart isn't showing video from the 80s. It's trying to become some cool locale for tweens and teens. You know, where they can discuss fashion and music and -- well, probably not sex. As Brian White pointed out last week, there are so many rules about what teens can do with the home pages the company hopes they will create on the MySpace-type The Hub, why would any cool, edgy teen want to play here? To show off their facility navigating the fashion wasteland of the retail giant's stores?

According to Bob Garfield of Advertising Age, "If well-executed, such an effort might cultivate individual users, gather market intelligence on the group, destigmatize Wal-Mart as a declasse purveyor of unfashionable clothing and establish a beachhead on the web for the fast-approaching digital future ... [but] it's totally not well-executed. It's the most not-well-executed ever."

"We shouldn't tuck anything in, it's so not cool anymore," says the pink-tee and acid-wash-jeans clad "Ashley" on her featured video (clearly not produced, or written, by a teenaged girl named "Ashley"). Nope. And neither are you, Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart: so, like, totally, not cool originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 24 Jul 2006 17:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.