People are being much more rational with their expenditures. That's why we're seeing these discount price retailers generating strong customer traffic and solid sales increases. And we expect strong earnings increases from them. |
Retailers that are not catering that well to the middle- and upper-income customers are going to have a tough time. |
Target has the best advertising marketing campaign in retailing. They do an amazing job of elevating a discount store to a very cool destination shop and so they are always pushing the envelope. |
The announcement by Neiman Marcus...makes us as concerned as we have ever been that this Christmas will be extremely lackluster, ... It appears now the high-end consumer is beginning to scale back their purchases, which does not bode well for the holiday season. This type of thing is clearly going to have an impact on other high-end retailers. |
The announcement by Neiman Marcus...makes us as concerned as we have ever been that this Christmas will be extremely lackluster. It appears now the high-end consumer is beginning to scale back their purchases, which does not bode well for the holiday season. This type of thing is clearly going to have an impact on other high-end retailers. |
The back-to-school season started with a bang and we're expecting robust sales in September because the consumer appeared to be flooded with cash. |
The companies that are seeing strong gross margin improvements are getting it not from improving their merchandising mix, but from improved buying. Retailers like Wal-Mart and Target are lowering their cost of acquiring products. Sears on the other hand, continues to struggle with the turnaround of its department stores and problems with its credit card unit. |
The company endorsed consensus analysts' estimates of a 15 percent EPS growth in the new fiscal year, |
The low energy prices are more beneficial than any tax break, particularly for discount shoppers. |
The news we got today was incrementally negative, even for the best operators out there. And clearly this does not bode well for a strong holiday season. |
The sales results from the department and discount chains were mostly in line with expectations. |
The same issues which are depressing the consumer confidence numbers are going to depress holiday sales, ... Christmas is going to show up this year as it shows up every year. The question is, how generous are people going to be? Are they going to go whole hog and return to the decadent spending levels of three or four years ago? No, clearly not. People are going to be buying toys, but how many presents they buy, how wide that circle of gift giving is really is in question. |
The shopper appears to be in mid-season form with the holiday season just having started. |
The stock is manipulated by perceptions of the future, and investors are very concerned right now that the economy is weaker than we thought. Wal-Mart is doing a superb job. On other the hand, the stock is vulnerable. |
The tire business did break even on a cash basis but not on a full-loaded cost basis, or the total costs incurred to run that business. |