COST

Who’s Amazon’s Next Victim?

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An interesting white paper was released recently, analyzing how Amazon (click ticker for report: ) is altering the retail landscape. The paper itself had some interesting insights, but our favorite takeaway of Placed’s work was the top ten companies at risk. 1.    Bed Bath and Beyond (click ticker for report: ) 2.    PetSmart (click ticker for report: ) 3.    Toys ‘R Us 4.    Best Buy (click ticker for report: ) 5.    Sears (click ticker for report: ) 6.    Barnes & Noble (BKS) 7.    Kohl’s (click ticker for report: ) 8.    Target (click ticker for report: ) 9.    Costco (click ticker for report: ) 10. JC Penney (click ticker for report: ) For the most part, we agree with the list, … Read more

Special Dividends: A Fantastic Idea…Fiscal Cliff Has Started a Trend

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Throughout 2012, we’ve seen a huge surge in special dividends, with 59 companies in the Russell 3000 declaring special dividends from September to November compared to just 15 during the same period last year. The impetus is obvious: the impending fiscal cliff has left both companies and investors wondering what to do with the mountains of cash sitting on pristine balance sheets and low return prospects. As a result, companies across different sectors are declaring special one-time dividends. Costco (click ticker for report: ) will pay a one-time special dividend of $7 per share (amounting to $3 billion) as a reward to shareholders, while Tyson Foods (click ticker for report: ) declared a special one-time payment of $0.20 per share. … Read more

Safeway’s Earnings Beat But the Grocer Remains Weak

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Grocery store chain Safeway (click ticker for report: ) reported soft third-quarter results Thursday morning. Revenue slipped 0.2% year-over-year to $10 billion, slightly worse than consensus expectations. Earnings from operations grew 18% year-over-year to $0.45 per share, a few cents better than consensus estimates. As we’ve noted several times, and specifically with respect to Supervalu (click ticker for report: ), the grocery segment remains under intense pressure from warehouses and discounters. Same-store sales in the quarter ticked-up 0.1%, compared to the 6% same-store sales growth we saw from Costco (click ticker for report: ) yesterday. However, the firm noted that same-store sales in the fourth quarter are currently running at 1%, driven by the popularity of the “just for U” … Read more

Costco Reports Fantastic Results

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Warehouse retailer Costco (click ticker for report: ) reported a strong fourth quarter Wednesday morning. Revenue surged 14% year-over-year to $32.2 billion, just a touch short of consensus estimates. Earnings increased 29% thanks to a 10% increase in membership fees, as well as continued membership growth, resulting in a higher than anticipated $1.39 per share. Excluding the impact of foreign exchange rates and gasoline disinflation, same-store sales grew 6% in the US and 7% internationally. Consumers continue to flock toward the warehouse retailer as income growth remains stagnant, and Costco follows Wal-Mart (click ticker for report: ) in price leadership. As a result, gross margins were roughly flat year-over-year at 10.5%. Nevertheless, profitability gains were driven by membership fee revenue, … Read more