TJX

Dividend Increases/Decreases for the Week Ending April 1

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TJX raised its quarterly dividend 24% March 29. Image Source: Mike Mozart Below we provide a list of firms that raised/lowered their dividends during the week ending April 1. 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 Bank of the Ozarks (OZRK): now $0.155 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.15. Banner (BANR): now $0.21 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.18. City Holding (CHCO): now $0.43 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.42. Dollarama (DLMAF): now $0.10 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.09. Glacier Bancorp (GBCI): now $0.20 per share quarterly dividend, was … 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

Valuentum Economic Castleâ„¢ Rating Update

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Read: Keeping the Horse Before the Cart: Valuentum’s Economic Castle™ Rating The Economic Castle Focuses on the Magnitude of Economic Value Creation The Valuentum Economic Castle™ rating is an enhancement of the competitive advantage framework (commonly known as economic moat analysis) that has become widespread and ubiquitous within the investing world. Whereas an economic moat framework evaluates a firm on the basis of the sustainability and durability of its competitive advantages, Valuentum’s Economic Castle™ rating evaluates a firm on the basis of the firm’s future economic profit spread (return on invested capital less its weighted average cost of capital). The companies with the strongest Valuentum Economic Castle™ ratings are poised to generate the most economic value for shareholders in the … Read more

Dividend Increases for the Week Ending April 4

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Below we provide a list of firms that raised their dividends during the week ending April 4. 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 Ameriana Bancorp (ASBI): now $0.02 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.01. Artesian Resources Corporation (ARTNA): now $0.2119 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.2088. Bank of the Ozarks (OZRK): now $0.23 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.22. PNC Financial Services Group (PNC): now $0.48 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.44. Select Income REIT (SIR): now $0.48 per share quarterly dividend, was $0.46. TJX Companies (TJX): now $0.175 per … Read more

TJX Companies and Urban Outfitters Post Strong Growth in 3Q

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TJX Companies (TJX) and Urban Outfitters (URBN) both showed impressive sales growth during their respective fiscal third quarters (results released this week). TJX Companies Has Years of Store Growth and Earnings Expansion Ahead of It TJX Companies, one of the largest off-price retailers of apparel and home furnishings in the US, released solid third-quarter results Tuesday. Net sales advanced 9%, while consolidated same-store sales increased 5% on top of 7% growth in the prior-year period. The company’s consolidated pre-tax profit margin advanced 0.9 percentage points thanks in part to buying and occupancy leverage and easier year-over-year overhead comparisons. Adjusted diluted earnings-per-share was solid during the quarter, advancing to $0.75 from $0.62 in the prior-year period (a 21% increase). Fiscal-year-to-date, cash … Read more

TJ Maxx Goes (Back) Online

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After an 8-year hiatus, TJX Companies (click ticker for report: ) re-launched tjmaxx.com, reestablishing the firm’s e-commerce presence. The firm tried to become an online presence back in 2004, but given the nature of the TJX’s opportunistic and odd purchasing, product allocation was sloppy and too much time and money was spent updating inventory. What do we expect from tjmaxx.com now? Although we do love TJX’s business model of buying lots of designer goods at favorable prices, we admit the model does not really lend itself to online sales. In fact, that’s one of the reasons why we think TJX, fundamentally, is one of the best stories in retail. It is simply extremely hard to replicate the in-store experience online, … Read more

The Race to the Bottom

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This week, infamous American department stores JC Penney (click ticker for report: ) and Sears (click ticker report: ) reported terrible second-quarter results. Let’s take a closer look at these failing former industry giants. JC Penney JC Penney continues to suffer from Ron Johnson’s strategy change and subsequent removal. Total sales declined 11.9% year-over-year to $2.7 billion, while the firm lost $2.16 per share on an adjusted basis. Both metrics fell short of consensus estimates. The firm burned through $1.1 billion in free cash during the quarter and has posted negative free cash flow of $2.1 billion year-to-date. The situation at JC Penney continues to be incredibly uncertain, particularly after activist shareholder Bill Ackman resigned from the board of directors … Read more

Mixed Second Quarter Results Across Retail

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Tuesday morning, a variety of retailers reported calendar second quarter results that were decidedly mixed. Let’s take a deeper look. TJX Companies TJX Companies (click ticker for report: ) posted second quarter results marked by top and bottom line expansion. Revenue increased 8% year-over-year to $6.4 billion with same-store sales growth of 4% while earnings per share improved 18% year-over-year to $0.66 per share. Both metrics exceeded consensus expectations. Year-to-date, the firm has generated free cash flow of $314 million, equal to 2% of total revenue. Though the company has 3,119 locations worldwide, the company continues to experience stable comparable same-store sales (“comp”) growth. TJX’s 2-year stacked comp has consistently hovered around 10-11% during the past four quarters. Source: Valuentum, … Read more

American Eagle and the Difficulty of Investing in Teen Retailers

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Monday after the market close, teen retailer American Eagle (click ticker for report: ) reduced its second quarter earnings outlook. After a relatively weak first quarter, the firm was generally optimistic about its prospects heading into the second quarter, predicting flat same-store sales and earnings per share of $0.19-$0.21. However, earlier this week the firm said earnings per share will now be closer to $0.10 for the second quarter, a decline of 50% compared to the same period a year ago. Same-store sales that were predicted to be flat will actually be down 7% year-over-year (compared to 8% growth in the same period a year ago). Thus, same-store sales are only about 1% higher than they were two years ago.   … Read more