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Shopping for Income Within Retail in a Digital World

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Image Source: Mike Mozart The 2017 holiday shopping season has shown that e-commerce has never been stronger and it will only continue to grow. But there is still potential for income generation among more traditional retailers. Investors must be tremendously discerning in this area, however, as margin, and ultimately free cash flow, pressures remain prevalent. We like Walmart, Target, Costco as income ideas in retail, but TJX Companies and Best Buy may be worth a look. We’re avoiding the department stores and teen retail like the plague, regardless of their Dividend Cushion ratios. By Kris Rosemann and Brian Nelson, CFA What an incredible time we’re living in. For those that study history, the US’ pressure on other countries like China … Read more

Realty Income Has Avoided Much of the Trouble in Retail

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Image Source: Realty Income Realty Income’s dividend track record largely speaks for itself, and the REIT may be one of the most attractive in its peer universe. With a focus on some of the strongest retail tenants, it has largely avoided most of the trouble in retail, too. The REIT recently declared its 566th consecutive common stock monthly dividend. By Brian Nelson, CFA Those that don’t know Realty Income (O) should get to know it. The real estate investment trust (REIT) isn’t called the ‘Monthly Dividend Company’ for no reason. Its dividend growth track record is simply a sight to see (1), and the company’s dividend yield is still relatively attractive at ~4.6%, better than the that of the average … Read more

Shoe Retailing Stocks Stumble

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The market didn’t like the smell of Foot Locker’s first-quarter report, released May 19. Finish Line and Dick’s Sporting Goods likely forewarned of trouble. By Brian Nelson, CFA Shoe stocks have been stinking up the market lately. The writing may have been on the wall a couple months ago when Finish Line (FINL) released a weak fiscal fourth-quarter report for the period ending February 25 that showed consolidated sales falling 0.4% and (Finish Line) comparable sales dropping 4.5%. CEO of Finish Line Sam Sato said at the time that the company’s fiscal fourth quarter had finished off a “challenging year financially” for the company, and we can’t really disagree. It was tough fiscal year for the retailer. Here’s more of … Read more

Not Worried About Priceline, Boeing; Yes Worried About Fickle Retail

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Image Source: Mike Mozart Priceline and Boeing have been here before. Fickle retail continues to succumb to the Amazon effect. By Brian Nelson, CFA The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIA) closed just shy of the 21,000 mark on May 11, while the S&P 500 (SPY) ended the session at ~2,395. We continue to ride the wave in the equity markets higher, even as we exercise caution almost across the board. First-quarter earnings season has actually been quite good, however, with the “blended earnings growth rate for S&P 500 companies north of 10% (it was 13.5% with more than 80% of S&P 500 companies reporting). FactSet noted in its May 5 report that this pace of growth is the highest since … Read more

Valuentum’s 3 Breakthroughs in the Field of Finance and More

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Valuentum’s President Brian Nelson pauses for a picture before speaking at the CFA Society of Houston in March 2017. By Valuentum Editorial Staff Let’s cover Valuentum’s 3 major breakthroughs in the field of finance. The first one is big and may challenge you to rethink everything you think you know about investing. 1. On a logical framework, Valuentum has debunked John C. Bogle’s landmark syllogism that has paved the way for the concept of index investing. Index investing has been built on a logical shortcoming, whether supported by evidence or not. We think it is important that the investment community know of this. Read (pdf): The “Luck” and “Randomness” of Index Funds (2018), Brian Nelson, CFA See video documentation: /FALLACY_of_Index_Funds To … Read more

Retail Weakness: Blame the Election?

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Image Source: DonkeyHotey By Kris Rosemann The 2016 election cycle has been one characterized by unprecedented amounts of criticism and accusations, of both the personal and political variety, and it may be true that the perceived political environment from the view of the general public has not been in such a state of uncertainty for some time. Let’s not get into the details of who called whom what in last night’s Presidential debate, but some parents were reportedly not allowing their children to watch the debate out of fear that their values or outlook on democracy could be skewed. But could the uncertainty surrounding the election actually be enough to impact consumer activity at retail outlets and restaurants? Some are … Read more

Uncertainty in Retail Remains

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Image Source: Mike Mozart By Kris Rosemann Just one day after shares of Walmart (WMT) fell on sentiment from the poor quarterly report from rival Target (TGT), “Target and Non-GAAP Earnings (May 2016),” Walmart reported strong first quarter earnings and shares leapt nearly 10% in the May 19 trading session. Other retailers, however, haven’t been as lucky, experiencing material share price declines as of late due to ongoing weakness across many verticals of the retail space. Some noteworthy retailers that have been punished as a result of poor first quarter performance include Macy’s (M), Kohl’s (KSS), and Nordstrom (JWN), among others, including the aforementioned Target. The material weakness across retail comes despite US retail and food service sales beating expectations … Read more

Dividend Increases for the Week Ending February 27

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Below we provide a list of firms that raised their dividends during the week ending February 27. The dividend reports of covered firms on this list will be updated shortly with the new information. To access our dividend reports use the ‘Symbol’ search box in our website header. Firms Raising Their Dividends This Week Albemarle (ALB): now $0.29 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.275. Canadian Imperial Bank (CM): now C$1.06 per share quarterly dividend, was C$1.03. Chico’s FAS (CHS): now $0.0775 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.075. Chubb (CB): now $0.57 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.50. Cohen & Steers (CNS): now $0.25 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.22. Comcast (CMCSA): now $0.25 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.225. Cubic Corp (CUB): … Read more

10 Bucks per Hour; What It Really Means

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Source: US Department of Labor, Walmart Walmart (WMT) is quite savvy. The big box retailer announced February 19 it would raise the minimum wage for all of its US workers to $9 per hour in April of this year and at least $10 per hour by next February. The move comes amid ongoing public scrutiny of its labor practices, elevated worker turnover, and general malaise among the ranks on social media platforms. At face value, the news headlines show Walmart caving to public pressure, and a win for big labor, but in reality, the retailing giant is merely doing what good businesses do – pleasing customers (which are its workers, too) and widening its economic moat. Hiking wages accomplishes both. … Read more

Investing In Teen Retail Is Like Rolling the Dice

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There’s probably nothing more difficult to do in all of investing than predict the fashion trends of teenagers. Every season it seems there’s something new, and what was “in” a few weeks ago is now yesterday’s news. To me, predicting what kids will wear during each of the four seasons of the year is like asking my three-year-old what he did at school today: the answer is not always clear. Others say it’s like rolling the dice at the craps table. Very few firms make it in teen retail, and recent results reveal why. Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) An excerpt from Abercrombie & Fitch’s third-quarter report: “As referenced in our earlier Business Update, our third quarter results were disappointing in … Read more