Retail & Wholesale

The year 2014 marked 100 years of JCPenney’s (JCP) first private brand Marathon Hats. One of the major focus points of JCPenney’s turnaround strategy was to bring back its private brands.

In the last fiscal year, Nordstrom’s revenue growth was 7.7%, a substantial number when compared to its peers.

Chinese policymakers should try to implement Ray Dalio’s three rules of thumb as closely as possible to get the country’s economic growth back on track.

JCPenney (JCP) sells merchandise and provides certain services to consumers through its department stores. The company also sells its products through its website at jcpenney.com.

Lululemon’s same-store sales performance was healthy in 2Q16. There’s been a reversal in the negative trend that dogged the retailer for much of last year, particularly in its brick-and-mortar channel.

Retail traffic dipped in July 2015 after increasing in June 2015. The July numbers came in 17% below what was recorded by ShopperTrak in June.

Tesla plans to expand its product portfolio to include the Model-X, which is expected to hit the roads sometime later this year.

When we compare the S&P 500 (SPX) with the SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT), the retail ETF has beaten the broad market index on a trailing one-year basis.

By 2020, the Tesla Gigafactory will reach full capacity and produce more lithium ion batteries annually than were produced worldwide in 2013.

The abundance of counterfeit goods and accessories is adversely affecting the sales of Estée Lauder’s products. This also hurts EL’s brand image.

Consumer confidence is one of the major factors that affect consumer spending. As a result, the retail sector has had a direct relationship with this metric.

When we talk about retail valuations, it is important not to generalize that all the companies in the SPDR S&P Retail ETF can be valued using the PCF or the PS multiple.

Brick and mortar retail companies have high inventory levels and are very capital-intensive companies that require a significant amount of working capital and capital expenditure.

Amazon (AMZN) has a new competitor in town—Jet.com. It opened to the public early last week. The startup was founded by Marc Lore.

Restoration Hardware, the luxury furniture retailer, is one of the most successful adapters of omnichannel retailing in the industry. It uses its stores as brand showrooms.

In the US, consumer sentiment rose in June. The Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLY) has gained about 1.22% over the past month.

Nordstrom’s online channel has been very instrumental in growing sales. In fiscal 2014 ending January 31, 2015, sales of Nordstrom.com grew 23.0% to $2.0 billion.

Despite having negative comps in 1H15, Lululemon’s revenue growth for its physical stores was positive at 9.7% year-over-year in fiscal 2015.

Lululemon is testing RFID (radio frequency identification) technology and plans to implement the technology, which is currently used in ~13 stores.

US online sales increased to 7.0% in 1Q15 from 4.2% in 1Q10. More consumers are preferring to shop online, which makes online expansion vital for department stores.

The US same-day delivery market could grow from $0.10 billion in 2014 to $4.03 billion in 2018 at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 150%.

Walmart announced it was testing unlimited shipping for $50 per year, presenting significant competition to Amazon’s Prime service.

In March, Nordstrom announced the opening of its second international location in Canada. Nordstrom plans to open six Canadian stores through 2017.

In 4Q14, TPG-Axon sold its stakes in Macy’s (M), Monsanto (MON), Alibaba Group Holding (BABA), and Vantiv (VNTV).

Home Depot’s (HD) stock has performed well over the past five years. In fact, it’s been the best-performing stock in its peer group.

The growth in TJX Companies’ same-store sales slowed down in fiscal 2015, growing by 2.0% compared to 3.0% in fiscal 2014.

As of 2014, there were about 2,500 Baskin-Robbins locations in the United States and about 5,000 locations in the international market.

Walgreens Boots Alliance is a firm created by the merger of Walgreens and Alliance Boots in December 2014.

Home Depot’s (HD) supply chain is getting more productive, resulting in better gross margins. Each store stocks about 30,000 to 40,000 different products.

Kitchen and garden products are the best-grossing product categories. These accounted for nearly 27% of revenues in fiscal 2014.

The home improvement industry is highly concentrated, particularly in the consumer market. The degree of concentration is growing.

Fiscal 2015 was a record year for Home Depot. The stock has returned over 47% over the past year and over 10% year-to-date.

For the quarter ending in December 2014, Alibaba achieved 265 million monthly active users on its mobile commerce apps. This is a sequential growth of 22%.

Part of the reason for Alibaba’s GMV growth was the growth in its active user base. The growth was driven by an increase in active buyers throughout China.

During the fourth quarter of 2014, Eminence Capital lowered its stake in eBay (EBAY). The company accounted for 2.55% of the fund’s 4Q14 portfolio.

Department stores like Macy’s (M) are focusing on improving their inventory management so as to maintain the optimal level of inventory, bring down costs, and avoid stock-outs.

Despite its sales growth, the gross profit rate declined for Walmart’s US operations, consisting of the Walmart US and Sam’s Club segments.

Stock price movement affected Walmart’s stock performance. Walmart’s stock is only up by 8.8% since the start of 2014.

eBay’s take rate fell from 3.79% in 2Q13 to 3.53% in 2Q14. However, the company isn’t worried about it since take rate is offset by healthy revenue growth.

Walmart (WMT) has a mix of debt and equity in its capital structure. The retailer’s (XRT) total debt, both short and long-term, is ~$56.6 billion.