Amazon (AMZN) CEO Jeff Bezos issues his annual letter to shareholders in which he takes on accusations the company is being run as a "charitable" organization for the benefit of consumers by noting customer trust and brand reputation will continue to outweigh short-term swings in Amazon's share price. The Bezos strategy: "I think long-term thinking squares the circle." (full Amazon letter .pdf) [View news story]
Marvelous that Bezos includes his 1997 letter to shareholders. A clear mission with delighted customers (me for one) and suppliers (our company, Simply Magazine with audiobooks and eBooks, plus Amazon's strong resale area to boost value for owners of our products) is a bedrock foundation. Hopefully they will start to make money to reward their shareholders. Jury's out but I wouldn't bet against Mr. B! Unique (in its true meaning of only one) company. Always exciting too, no small thing.
Wal-Mart (WMT -3%) takes another leg down after an exec confirms what Cleveland Research warned on earlier - February sales are off to a disastrous start due in part to the expiration of the payroll tax cut. No surprise, but shares of Target (TGT -2.6%) are falling hard as well. [View news story]
Wal-Mart (WMT -3%) takes another leg down after an exec confirms what Cleveland Research warned on earlier - February sales are off to a disastrous start due in part to the expiration of the payroll tax cut. No surprise, but shares of Target (TGT -2.6%) are falling hard as well. [View news story]
Search Google for Obama's admission. Then search SAT by President. Then Harvard Law School, Columbia College, or Harvard College admissions data. Hard to get but available. Hard to get the admissions data, the other is transparent.
Wal-Mart (WMT -3%) takes another leg down after an exec confirms what Cleveland Research warned on earlier - February sales are off to a disastrous start due in part to the expiration of the payroll tax cut. No surprise, but shares of Target (TGT -2.6%) are falling hard as well. [View news story]
Remember our Idiot in Chief (400s on his SATs, admits to 500s and being in the bottom 2% of his Columbia College class) raised the SS on supposedly his people, who feel the pain most since the bottom 50% earners only pay 3% of Federal taxes so any SS increase hits them hardest. Pass the pipeline=boom. But Barbra Streisand doesn't want that so he toadies to the elite.
Walmart lives in the real world where Democrats shop.
Costco's (COST) net sales +12% in December to $11.2B, helped by an extra day of trading that boosted the figure by around 2%. Same-store sales +9%, above consensus of +6.5%. Excluding fuel and forex fluctuations, comparable sales +8%. (PR) [View news story]
Value continues with its momentum at retail. My company is a supplier to Costco and we are continually astounded by their attention to detail and low markups. To discover value at retailers, the suppliers have the best data.
Shares of Amazon (AMZN) trade 1.7% lower premarket following the resignation of board member Blake Krikorian late on Friday. The co-founder of Sling Media has a home automation startup that is reportedly a potential target of Apple, Google, and Microsoft. [View news story]
They aren't making money and have not put out a plan to do so.
Black Friday by the numbers: Wal-Mart (WMT) says over 22M customers have been served since the retailer opened its stores last night in a somewhat controversial decision to cut short the Thanksgiving holiday for employees. The company notes it's already knocked out 10M register transactions and hit an astounding pace of 5K items per seconds at peak time. The bigger question: Did Wal-Mart pull sales forward or take market share from rivals with its decision to launch Black Friday shopping earlier? [View news story]
Walmart does not pay doctor rates but pay far better than smaller stores. And promotions are available. Walmart treats every one better than most retailers, not perfect but darn good.
Office supply chains Office Depot (ODP) and OfficeMax (OMX) are racing higher in premarket trading, up 7.1% and 6.9% respectively, after both companies managed to control costs enough to beat estimates in Q3. The underlying current that a OMX-ODP merger makes sense is still in play despite the efforts of OfficeMax to erect a takeover defense. Staples (SPLS) isn't missing out on the fun altogether, adding 2.2% premarket after landing what could end up becoming an interesting deal with Amazon. [View news story]
Staples move with Amazon is innovative and similar two great companies, Apple and Amazon, who compete and cooperate--Apple features Kindle and their titles on their devices and Amazon's audible division runs the iTunes audiobook store.
Costco (COST) declares $0.275/share quarterly dividend, in line with previous. Forward yield 1.13%. For shareholders of record Nov 16. Payable Nov 30. Ex-div date Nov 14. (PR) [View news story]
Costco treats customers (my family and I) and suppliers (my company) incredibly well. In fact, the best retailers in this regard are the ones at their 52 week highs. Want to know what retailer to invest in or to avoid, check in with their suppliers.
Toys R Us Chairman Jerry Storch makes the case on Squawk Box that brick-and-mortar stores won't go away anytime soon, but will morph into mini-distribution centers. The line of thought follows a recent trend by retail players of using existing stores as fulfillment centers and showcasing more extensive pick up options to online buyers. The end game: Retail stores see a competitive advantage over Amazon if they can deliver products faster as they still dream about ultimately offering the holy grail of online shopping - same-day delivery. [View news story]
Especially low priced impulse products like the dollar chains but especially DLTR.
Is Best Buy Eating Amazon.com's Lunch? [View article]
Best Buy is unlikely to be a retail presence in 5 years. They have been living off cannibalizing others that have now all gone out of business. They stand alone and others are cannibalizing them. They have also focused on commodity items more, which are available elsewhere at better prices. Amazon, on the other hand, has knocked out Borders and is in the process of doing that to B&N (Kindle Fire's Fire Sale price is to knock em out). They have the largest book collection, they own the largest audiobook download company (audible.com, that runs iTunes in the category), have people like me ordering weekly due to free freight after a $79 annual charge, and people love amazon. You always know you will get a great buy. Best Buy's nickname is "Worst Buy."
Don't forget the Kindle eBooks; they pay monthly 35% to 70%, no other publisher matches that.
Disclosure: Audible, Amazon, and Apple are customers of my company. BBY was but we were discontinued because our prices were too low. Walmart picked up the line.
Why Rosetta Stone's Strategy to Revitalize Itself Will Fail [View article]
Mr. Bezek did not overstate his case nor claim to have deep knowledge about the financial metrics of Rosetta Stone. He simply stated reasons he thought people should question their investment in Rosetta Stone. That is not trashing the stock. There are better products out there at a fraction of the cost. Is this a brand versus private label issue or should people be more concerned? That is the issue he raised and merits consideration. The jury is out. But we should deliberate the point. In a McDonalds, Dollar Tree, private label era, one takes great risks investing in any high end retailers or product makers, with Rosetta being some of both with kiosks and high priced products (you can get an iPad2 for the same price).
Why Rosetta Stone's Strategy to Revitalize Itself Will Fail [View article]
Don't be upset by someone dissing you inappropriately. You are missing two high volume competitors: Topics and Simply Magazine. Each is the sole! language provider in over 5000 stores each. Simply is restricted to Spanish for English Speakers and English for Spanish Speakers--but this is the mass market dominator. Topics has a much broader selection of excellent products and a long track record of solid performance. Both companies are private.
Rosetta Stone's Slide Intensifies With Slash to Q4 Outlook [View article]
They avoid naming their 2 major competitors because they have far lower prices and better products: Topics, an entrenched competitor (Costco especially), and Simply Magazine with $4.99 products (see simplymagazine.com)
Amazon (AMZN) CEO Jeff Bezos issues his annual letter to shareholders in which he takes on accusations the company is being run as a "charitable" organization for the benefit of consumers by noting customer trust and brand reputation will continue to outweigh short-term swings in Amazon's share price. The Bezos strategy: "I think long-term thinking squares the circle." (full Amazon letter .pdf) [View news story]
Dollar Tree, Inc. Reports Results for the Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2012 [View article]
Wal-Mart (WMT -3%) takes another leg down after an exec confirms what Cleveland Research warned on earlier - February sales are off to a disastrous start due in part to the expiration of the payroll tax cut. No surprise, but shares of Target (TGT -2.6%) are falling hard as well. [View news story]
Wal-Mart (WMT -3%) takes another leg down after an exec confirms what Cleveland Research warned on earlier - February sales are off to a disastrous start due in part to the expiration of the payroll tax cut. No surprise, but shares of Target (TGT -2.6%) are falling hard as well. [View news story]
Wal-Mart (WMT -3%) takes another leg down after an exec confirms what Cleveland Research warned on earlier - February sales are off to a disastrous start due in part to the expiration of the payroll tax cut. No surprise, but shares of Target (TGT -2.6%) are falling hard as well. [View news story]
Walmart lives in the real world where Democrats shop.
Costco's (COST) net sales +12% in December to $11.2B, helped by an extra day of trading that boosted the figure by around 2%. Same-store sales +9%, above consensus of +6.5%. Excluding fuel and forex fluctuations, comparable sales +8%. (PR) [View news story]
Shares of Amazon (AMZN) trade 1.7% lower premarket following the resignation of board member Blake Krikorian late on Friday. The co-founder of Sling Media has a home automation startup that is reportedly a potential target of Apple, Google, and Microsoft. [View news story]
Black Friday by the numbers: Wal-Mart (WMT) says over 22M customers have been served since the retailer opened its stores last night in a somewhat controversial decision to cut short the Thanksgiving holiday for employees. The company notes it's already knocked out 10M register transactions and hit an astounding pace of 5K items per seconds at peak time. The bigger question: Did Wal-Mart pull sales forward or take market share from rivals with its decision to launch Black Friday shopping earlier? [View news story]
Office supply chains Office Depot (ODP) and OfficeMax (OMX) are racing higher in premarket trading, up 7.1% and 6.9% respectively, after both companies managed to control costs enough to beat estimates in Q3. The underlying current that a OMX-ODP merger makes sense is still in play despite the efforts of OfficeMax to erect a takeover defense. Staples (SPLS) isn't missing out on the fun altogether, adding 2.2% premarket after landing what could end up becoming an interesting deal with Amazon. [View news story]
Costco (COST) declares $0.275/share quarterly dividend, in line with previous. Forward yield 1.13%. For shareholders of record Nov 16. Payable Nov 30. Ex-div date Nov 14. (PR) [View news story]
Toys R Us Chairman Jerry Storch makes the case on Squawk Box that brick-and-mortar stores won't go away anytime soon, but will morph into mini-distribution centers. The line of thought follows a recent trend by retail players of using existing stores as fulfillment centers and showcasing more extensive pick up options to online buyers. The end game: Retail stores see a competitive advantage over Amazon if they can deliver products faster as they still dream about ultimately offering the holy grail of online shopping - same-day delivery. [View news story]
Is Best Buy Eating Amazon.com's Lunch? [View article]
Don't forget the Kindle eBooks; they pay monthly 35% to 70%, no other publisher matches that.
Disclosure: Audible, Amazon, and Apple are customers of my company. BBY was but we were discontinued because our prices were too low. Walmart picked up the line.
Why Rosetta Stone's Strategy to Revitalize Itself Will Fail [View article]
Why Rosetta Stone's Strategy to Revitalize Itself Will Fail [View article]
Rosetta Stone's Slide Intensifies With Slash to Q4 Outlook [View article]