Retail & Wholesale

Walmart (WMT) reported its fiscal 2Q18 results on August 17. Walmart’s adjusted earnings per share of $1.08 beat Wall Street’s estimate and increased 1% year-over-year.

Nabors Industries’ (NBR) CFO (cash from operating activities) turned positive in 2Q17, compared with its negative CFO in 1Q17.

Gap (GPS) reported total revenues of $3.8 billion in 2Q17 and beat the consensus by $30 million. On a YoY basis, the company’s top line fell 1.4%.

Amazon sold bonds to finance Whole Foods acquisition On August 15, Amazon (AMZN) sold $16 billion in bonds to fund its acquisition of Whole Foods (WFM). The bonds were met with robust demand from investors, as the tech giant rarely visits the bond market. Amazon is taking advantage of a good borrowing environment. Amazon’s bond sale is the […]

Target’s (TGT) sales for 2016 fell 6.0% due to lower comparable store sales and weak store traffic.

Phoenix, Arizona–based Sprouts Farmers Market (SFM) reported its 2Q17 results on August 3. Total sales for SFM increased 15% year-over-year to $1.2 billion, $17.0 million more than consensus estimates.

In fiscal 4Q17, Alibaba’s international commerce retail business generated $353.0 million in revenues, up 312.0% YoY.

Intel is offering a full spectrum of AI solutions and several accelerators. The company’s journey in accelerated computing began with its acquisition of Altera in 2015.

Lowe’s Companies (LOW) operates 2,129 home improvement and hardware stores in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

VFC is covered by 21 Wall Street analysts. It has received a 2.7 rating on a scale where one is a “strong buy” and five is a “strong sell.”

In this series, we’ll explore the trends in consumer spending in recent months and try to shed some light on the retail sales data that will be released on July 14.

Consumer Discretionary Select Index sales, earnings, and dividends have grown at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 6%, 7.2%, and 10.7%, respectively between 2012 and 2017.

Best Buy (BBY) stock fell 6.3% on July 10, 2017, in reaction to news of Amazon’s (AMZN) new service that will compete with Best Buy’s Geek Squad.

Twitter’s current book value per share of ~$6.5 compares with its expected book value per share of $6.4. Its shares are trading at a PBV ratio of ~2.8x.

American Express’s (AXP) Global Merchant Services segment is expected to see a marginal increase in its net income in 2Q17.

If we compare the performances of the defensive sectors, we can see that their YTD performance and one-year performances have been reasonably uniform with the exception of the energy and telecom sectors.

American Express (or Amex) (AXP) has entered into digital partnerships with Airbnb, Facebook (FB), and Uber in order to offset the revenue loss from Costco (COST).

News of the Whole Foods acquisition has already given Amazon a boost, pushing its stock up 2.4% and adding $11.0 billion to its market cap, which nearly pays for the $13.7 billion deal.

Kroger (KR) has done reasonably well lately, having survived an intensely competitive retailing environment over the past few years.

Gap (GPS) reported total revenues of $3.4 billion in fiscal 1Q17, beating the consensus by $50.0 million. YoY, its top line remained almost flat.

The majority of analysts covering Target (TGT) are neutral on the stock. Analysts’ consensus rating on TGT was 2.9 on a scale of 1.0 (strong buy) to 5.0 (strong sell).

VFC stock is currently trading at $56.44, which is ~17.0% below its 52-week high price.

Dollar General’s (DG) business strategy revolves around driving profitable topline growth while enhancing its low-cost operator position and capturing new growth opportunities.

Dollar General (DG) must maintain an efficient supply chain in order to juggle hundreds of products in over 13,000 stores in 44 states across the United States.

Dollar stores follow a small-box format to maintain low costs. Target customers are typically lower- and middle-income families.

Dollar General (DG) operates dollar stores that offer a variety of inexpensive merchandise, including home products, seasonal products, consumables, and apparel.

Headquartered in Tennessee, Dollar General (DG) is the largest discount store retailer in the United States in terms of total sales.

Dollar General (DG) is the largest discount store retailers in the United States in terms of total revenue generated.

Tiffany’s international operations are vital to top-line growth. In fiscal 2016, US sales accounted for 42.3% of overall sales, while other countries made up 42.6%.

30 Wall Street analysts cover Dollar General (DG). On average, they rate the company a 2.4 on a scale of one (strong buy) to five (strong sell).

Target (TGT), the third-largest mass merchandiser in the US, declared results for 4Q16 on February 28, 2017.

Gap (GPS) reported total revenues of ~$4.4 billion in 4Q16, beating the consensus by $40 million.

VFC’s gross margin is likely to remain flat at 48.6% and would include 70 basis points of negative impact from currency adjustments.

With trailing-12-month sales of over $6 billion, Hanesbrands (HBI) is one the largest marketers of basic apparel in the United States.

On January 25, 2017, Telsey downgraded Kate Spade’s rating to “market perform” from “outperform.” It reported fiscal 3Q16 net sales of $316.5 million.

Silicon Valley startups with promising technologies have been pulling in money from surprising new sources.

On January 4, Macy’s disclosed 68 store closures—three stores closed in mid-2016, 63 stores slated to close in early spring 2017, and two in mid-2017.

Gasoline sales accounted for 58.0% of Casey’s (CASY) total revenue in fiscal 2Q17. Total gasoline sales fell 4.6% YoY (year-over-year) in fiscal 2Q17.

Hewlett-Packard Enterprise (HPE) has mentioned that enterprises and customers are shifting toward hybrid cloud, and it aims to simplify this transition.

On November 23, 2016, Wolfe Research downgraded Kate Spade & Company’s rating to “peer perform” from “outperform.”