Showing posts with label American Businesses. Show all posts
Showing posts with label American Businesses. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Aeropostale Losing Promotional Edge. Abercrombie, American Eagle, and Others Tearing Down Margins. But Aeropostale Flush With Cash.

Aeropostale is seriously losing its edge in the promotional business. Competition in the teen apparel industry is increasingly fierce and margins are under intense pressure as Abercrombie & Fitch and American Eagle Outfitters, among others, are embracing discounts and offering more clearance and promotional sales. In addition, cotton prices have rocketed upwards during recent years, and have only now started to show some signs of subsiding.

The stock has fallen below $12 per share recently and investors are anxiously awaiting its next earnings and sales numbers, as last quarter's were atrocious, with both margins and sales tumbling by double digits. So why would any investor still consider owning the company? They have piles of cash still left on their balance sheet, and have no long-term debt whatsoever. Why is no-debt significant? Because when the company makes a dollar in earnings, all of that earnings can be designated towards something that actually improves shareholder value, such as: share-buybacks, capital expenditures, expansion, or dividends to shareholders. In other words, the shareholders actually own the whole company, unlike many businesses, which are owned by shareholders and a conglomeration of banks and creditors.


Financially, the company is healthy, and they are still making a decent profit, so if next quarter's numbers reveal a bump up or stabilization of sales and revenues, this stock will be cheap, very cheap. But until then, fashion is a horribly fickle business and notoriously difficult for the Intelligent Investor to predict. The proof for this company will be in the sales data.

Friday, June 24, 2011

Wal-Mart Invading Urban Canada. New "Wal-Mart Urban 90 Stores" to Attract Even More Buyers.

Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) recently announced that it is going to begin opening urban stores in Canada. The first concept store will be opened on an old Zellers property that it will be acquiring from Target. The format of the store will be named "Urban 90," and it will be located in the east-end of Toronto.

The new Wal-Mart's are intended to fill a gap that Wal-Mart experiences in Canada currently. Since the company is usually located on very large suburban lots, they have been unable to reach many dense urban buyers. They hope that the new stores will allow them to expand further into a Canadian marketplace that they have largely saturated.

The new Urban 90 format, being located in dense urban environments, is going to hit the traditional retailers and grocers the hardest. Many Giant Tiger, Loblaws (TSE: L), Metro (TSE: MRU.A), and Sobeys banners are located in urban environments that currently are free from Wal-Mart's tentacles. Soon, however, the ubiquitous yellow smiley face will shower Canada's urbanites as well. Canadian retail investors beware!

Happy Investing, and for more info:

http://www.thestar.com/business/companies/walmart/article/1014669--wal-mart-to-open-urban-store-buys-zellers-sites