Posts for Ticker ‘LIZ’

The 100 Hardest Working Brands In The World

hersheyThere are a number of ways to rank brand values. One of the most important is the level at which a brand contributes to the market value of a public company.

24/7 Wall St. asked Corebrand, the brand research and consulting firm, to look at the top 100 brands based their contribution to market capitalizaton. Using this method, the hardest working brand was Hershey (NYSE:HSY), followed  by Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) and Harley-Davidson (NYSE:HOG)

Corebrand described the process briefly to 24/7 Wall. St.

24/7 Wall St.: Corebard often refers to the brands on this list as the”hardest working brands”. How did you come to that description?

Corebrand: There are a lot of people measuring and examining the “strongest brands” or the “most valuable brands”.  Our opinion is that examining one without the other is somewhat meaningless.  How “strong” a brand is nice to know but not very relevant unless you understand how that strength benefits business.  Similarly, “value” is little more than a measure of corporate size unless you understand the drivers of that value and how to influence it. By examining the strength of the brand and it’s contribution to total market value, we can help companies and their leadership manage that strength and value over time.

24/7 Wall St.: Is there any advantage or disadvantage to having a brand value be a very large percentage of market cap in the present and as an indication of a company’s future performance?

Corebrand: The brand will need to be in balance with the rest of the company’s assets.  A company should strive to have it’s brand strong enough to fend off competitors or changing market conditions but not so strong that it becomes overly dependent on the brand as a single driver of value.  If a company can achieve and maintain its appropriate maximum strength without becoming over-dependent, it will see greater returns in bull markets and retain greater value in bear markets.

The list: Read More »

Media Digest 10/12/2009

newspaperReuters:   E-mails and the credit crisis will be key to the trial of Bear Stearns workers.

Reuters:  The approval process for Tengzhong to buy Hummer has started in China.

Reuters:   Philips Electronics (NYSE:PHG) beat expectations.

Reuters:   Liz Claiborne’s (NYSE:LIZ) decision to sell its brands at J C Penny (NYSE:JCP) should help both companies. Read More »

Another Look At The Fate Of The US Retail Industry

bear1AlixPartners, a turnaround firm, said at the beginning of the year that 10% to 26% of retailers were in financial distress and were in danger of filing for Chapter 11. It is worth considering how the researchers came up with that number, given that there are tens of thousands of retailers and hundreds of thousands of stores in America. Why wasn’t the number 9% or 27%? The answer is that the forecast is virtually useless, something like counting the number of poisonous snakes in an “Indian Jones” movie. Read More »

The 52-week Low Club (YHOO)(WY)(LLTC)

Sad_clown_3 Jones Apparel (JNY) Profit warning. Drops to $9.26 from 52-week high of $23.08.

Liz Claiborne (LIZ) Pulled down by JNY news. Falls to $9.75 from 52-week high of $31.93.

Weyerhaeuser (WY) Tried to raise prices. Customers said "no". Sells down to $37.16 from 52-week high of $78.

Linear Technology (LLTC) Forecast weak for next quarter. Plunges to $20.53 from 52-week high of $37.77.

Yahoo! (YHOO) Wall St. hates internet and possible AOL deal. Down to $11.88 from $34.88.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Top Pre-Market Analyst Downgrades (BBY, BBBY, CC, DELL, HPQ, JNS, LIZ, LSI, PIR, RACK, RSH, SFD)

These are some of the top Downgrades or negative calls we are seeing early this Tuesday morning.  Neutral and Hold ratings are not technically negative, but they aren’t ringing endorsements either.

  • Best Buy (BBY) Started as Hold at KeyBanc.
  • Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) Started as Hold at KeyBanc.

Read More »

Jim Cramer’s Stimulus Package & Turnaround Stocks

On tonight’s MAD MONEY on CNBC, Jim Cramer noted that selling stocks today isn’t a good idea and that this will be good for retail stocks and others too.  You have to keep in mind the same-store-sales as the key metric, but here are his retail names he went through:

  • In retail, Cramer likes Guess? (NYSE: GES), J.Crew (NYSE: JCG), Lowe’s (NYSE: LOW), Liz Claiborne (NYSE: LIZ), Jones Apparel (NYSE: JNY), Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ: COST), TJX Corp. (NYS: TJX), Urban Outfitters (NASDAQ: URBN)… and he likes Darden (NYSE: DRI) in restaurants. 

Cramer actually talked positive about one homebuilder and a mortgage player:

  • Toll Brothers (NYSE: TOL) will actually be a winner on the higher GSE increase in the conforming loan price cap.  In mortgages the increase in the cap will help Thornburg Mortgages (NYSE: TMA). 

He thinks that takeovers are coming, and he is under the impression that Bear Stearns (NYSE: BSC) may actually get taken over after a huge drop.  He thinks it is just too valuable to others.  Just FYI, Cramer did discuss this Bear Stearns takeover possibility on TheStreet.com earlier this morning or this afternoon.  In short, he thinks that this might merit a reason to stop being so cynical.  He wants to buy something in retail and something in banking. 

Last week Cramer went value fishing for technology companies that he thought were either overlooked during the meltdown or that had been oversold.  Here were his picks in technology:

Jon C. Ogg
January 24, 2008

Liz Claiborne Scores Key Designer, Isaac Mizrahi (LIZ, TGT, WMT)

Liz Clairborne Inc. (NYSE: LIZ) has made a key hire that might get some notice or kudos if it was a different environment.  It appears that Liz has poached away Isaac Mizrahi from Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT).  This line of Isaac Mizrahi will still be available at select target stores and target.com through the end of 2008.

Isaac Mizrahi is actually a trendy brand that has been quite popular, and it may have been one of a few dozen things that had helped Target make inroads in its war against Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) on the fashion side.  Speaking of which, they should have done the work to pursue him.

Normally we’d say this might be a great fit for Liz.  Actually we think it is a great fit considering how the performance has been over there.  There’s just one small problem.  We are already in a recession and now it seems that the only big question is how deep or how bad it will get. 

Also, as this clothing line is available at Target through the end of the year this will take some time to filter out for Liz.  As every other retailer is in the soup, it’s just hard to get excited about anything retail today.

Congratulations Liz, but we’ll throw you a party maybe later in the year.

Jon C. Ogg
January 15, 2008

52-Week Low Club (December 28, 2007)

Some of these stocks hit 52-week lows and recovered off of lows so they won’t have a low close.  But these did all touch or breach the 52-week lows.  At the end we also broke out retail stocks, financial stocks, airlines & transports, and hotels.  A separate report could have been compiled for REIT’s as well, but many of those were left off because of room or volume. There were enough 52-week lows today that you might even wonder if there had been a mini-crash in the markets.  Here are the 52-week lows for December 28, 2007:

  • Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD)… imagine if the company got Hector Ruiz to leave.
  • American Greetings (NYSE: AM)…again.
  • AstraZeneca (NYSE:AZN)… new entrant.
  • Carmike Cinemas (NASDAQ:CKEC)
  • ChipMOS (NASDAQ:IMOS)
  • Corp. Office Property (NYSE: OFC)
  • Cryptologic (NASDAQ: CRYP)
  • Diebold (NYSE:DBD)
  • Fortune Brands (NYSE:FO)
  • Group 1 Auto (NYSE: GPI)
  • Infinera Corp. (NASDAQ: INFN)
  • Introgen (NASDAQ:INGN)
  • Japan Smaller Cap Fund (NYSE: JOF)
  • Lamar Advertising (NASDAQ: LAMR)
  • Legget & Platt (NYSE: LEG)
  • Martha Stewart (NYSE: MSO)
  • Marvell Tech (NASDAQ:MRVL)
  • Mattel (NYSE:MAT)
  • McClatchy (NYSE:MNI)
  • Micron Tech (NYSE:MU)
  • NGAS Resources (NASDAQ:NGAS)
  • Nortel Networks (NYSE:NT)
  • Owens Corning (NYSE:OC)
  • Omnicare (NYSE:OCR)
  • Prestige Brand (NYSE: PBH)
  • PC-Tel (NASDAQ:PCTI)
  • Ruth’s Chris (NASDAQ:RUTH)
  • SanDisk (NASDAQ: SNDK)
  • Theravance (NASDAQ:THRX)
  • Tractor Supply (NASDAQ:TSCO)
  • Wendy’s (NYSE: WEN)
  • World Fuel Services (NYSE:INT)
  • U-Store-It (NYSE:YSI)

Retail Stocks on 52-week lows: Ann Taylor (NYSE:ANN), Big Lots (NYSE:BIG), Borders Group (NYSE:BGP), Bon Ton Stores (NASDAQ:BONT), Chico’s FAS (NYSE:CHS), Finish Line (NASDAQ:FINL), Liz Claiborne (NYSE: LIZ), Macy’s (NYSE: M), Office Max (NYSE:OMX), Petsmart (NASDAQ:PETM), Stage Stores (NYSE:SSI)

Financial stocks on 52-week lows: Bear Stearns (NYSE: BSC), Citigroup (NYSE:C), Canseco (NYSE: CNO), Discover Financial (NYSE: DFS), Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ:FITB), Fortress Investment (NYSE: FIG), MBIA Inc. (NYSE: MBI), Washington Mutual (NYSE:WM)… urgh!  When does it stop?

Airlines/Transports on 52-week lows:  Airtran Holdings (NYSE: AAI)…again.  Did they launch a Friends Die Free rewards plan?  Continental Airlines (NYSE:CAL), Fedex (NYSE:FDX), Mesa Air (NASDAQ:MESA), Northwest Airlines (NYSE: NWA)… near $100 oil is a real pain.

Hotels Hitting 52-week lows: Host Hotels (NYSE: HST), Lasalle Hotel (NYSE: LHO), Starwood Hotels (NYSE:HOT), Sunstone Hotel (NYSE: SHO), Wydham Worldwide (NYSE:WYN).  Maybe these all wish they could get the private equity buyers back in the sector.  If only they could still borrow.

These CEO’s new year’s resolutions are all the same: "In 2008 I want to keep my stock off the 52-week low lists."

Jon C. Ogg
December 28, 2007

52-Week Low Club (AAI, ANN, AM, BIG, BJRI, CHS, CC, LIZ, M, OMX, MSO, RL, HOT, WM, WEN, ZLC)

Today’s list of 52-week lows was still dominated by retail and consumer spending stocks, although a surprise surge from several key semiconductor names made today’s list.  Some of these did end up recovering back above their respective 52-week lows.  Here’s your list for today:

  • Airtran (AAI)…down from a $13.09 high.  $95+ Oil is a pain. Stock broke significant support at $8.00 two weeks ago so it’s in no-man’s land.
  • Ann Taylor (ANN)… Is the growth story gone? If so and IF it can hit its earnings estimates then it is a hidden value stock.  But with women spending less on clothes over the holidays it may just be a value trap.
  • American Greeting (AM)… I started complaining about the cost of greeting cards LONG BEFORE the economy softened, and I’m not alone.
  • Big Lots (BIG)…again…should say "habitual offender" on it.
  • BJ’s Restaurants (BJRI)…cool brewpub, although still expensive on earnings measurement.
  • Chico’s FAS (CHS)…again.
  • Circuit City (CC)…needs to fire that CEO immediately.
  • Liz Claiborne (LIZ)…again.
  • Macy’s (M)….again.
  • Marvell Tech (MRVL).. see chip stocks on 52-week lows.
  • Martha Stewart Living (MSO)… Is it changing its name to "DYING"? Maybe a weak ad environment and magazine environment is even worse than we thought?
  • Micron Tech (MU) turnaround still can’t turn around… see chip stocks on 52-week lows.
  • Office Max (OMX)…again.
  • Ralph Lauren Polo (RL)…recovered above that 52-week low but this was a surprise to see even in a weak consumer. Stock is now over $40.00 under highs.
  • Sandisk (SNDK).. see chip stocks in 52-week lows.
  • Starwood Hotels (HOT)… givin’ all the inheritance away may not keep young Paris happy.
  • STMicro (STM)…see chip stocks on 52-week lows.
  • Washington Mutual (WM)… when WA-MU changes its name to UH-OH!
  • Wendy’s International (WEN)… just an expensive burger chain with a "hoped for buyout" allowing a premium, otherwise would be even lower.
  • Zale Corp. (ZLC)….. I didn’t get my wife diamonds for Christmas either.

All these CEO’s have a fairly easy new year’s resolution for 2008: "I want to keep my stock from hitting 52-week lows"…….

Jon C. Ogg
December 27, 2007

Media Digest 7/31/2007 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Barron’s

According to Reuters, a groups lead by an internet entrepreneur is still pressing it case to buy Dow Jones (DJ).

Reuters writes that Alcatel-Lucent’’s (ALU) loss for Q2 was greater than expected.

Reuters reports that GSK’s (GSK) diabetes drug Avandia should stay on the market according to the FDA but containers should carry a warner about heart risks.

The Wall Street Journal writes that News Corp (NWS) and Dow Jones (DJ) seem to be getting closer to a deal to sell the publisher of the WSJ.

The WSJ reports that raider Nelson Pettz is willing to pay $37 to $41 for Wendy’s (WEN).

The WSJ writes that GM (GM) is offering 9% financing on pick-up trucks.

The Wall Street Journal writes that Sun (SUNW) posted a profit for the last quarter.

The New York Times writes that Liz Claiborne (LIZ) is working on a plan to make it less dependent on department store sales.

The New York Times writes that four independent record labels will sell music direct over the internet to AT&T (T) wireless phones.

The FT writes that Verizon (VZ) has bought Rural Cellular for $2.67 billion.

Barron’s writes that Dell (DELL) and Sun (SUNW) could suffer as virtualiztion cuts server sales.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Media Digest 7/11/2007 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Barron’s

According to Reuters, private equity firms are going to start to target big miners like Alcoa (AA).

Reuters writes that Rupert Murdoch’s BSkyB added 90,000 subscribers over the last quarter.

Reuters writes that Genetech (DNA) has formed a partnership with Tercica (TRCA) to make drugs with human growth hormone.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Liz Claiborne (LIZ) plans to divest 16 of its 36 brands.

The Wall Street Journal writes that S&P and Moody’s have downgraded bonds back by sub-prime mortgages.

The Wall Street Journal writes that the issues of GE (GE) investing in sub-prime mortgages could affect its Q2 earnings.

The Wall Street Journal reports that homes build by KB Home (KBH) and partially designed by Martha Stewart are still selling well.

The New York Times writes that Microsoft (MSFT) has set up a partnership wth Walt Disney (DIS) to market films that run on the Xbox.

The FT writes that Microsoft (MSFT) believes that the large number of new game releases will drive up demand for its Xbox Live by 40% over the next year.

The FT reports that Nielsen NetRating will launch a new measurement service based on time spent at websites.

Barron’s reports that Goldman has added Cisco (CSCO) and Intel (INTC) to its Top Five Tech Value Stock list.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Cramer Eats Wings & Beans

On today’s Stop Trading on CNBC, Jim Cramer came out discussing Buffalo Wild Wings (BWLD-NASDAQ) after the stock rose more than 14% to a new 52-week and all-time high after the company beat earnings estimates.  The company makes one-third of its money from beer and buffalo sauce, and he can’t imagine why 1/3 of the float was short.  But Chipotle (CMG) is the one he said is the stock of the day, and may be a multi-year grower.

He also said the market is remarkable and we all came in too bearish at the start of the year.  Cramer still thinks the market is decelerating inside the US and the rest of the world is rising while we are not. 

Cramer called Liz Claiborne (LIZ) as the worst retail conference call of the quarter, same as I noted yesterday.

Jon C. Ogg
May 2, 2007

Jon Ogg can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com; he does not own securities in the companies he covers