Posts for Ticker ‘TGT’

Black Friday Gimmicks & Desperation, A Win For Consumers (WMT, BBY, COST, TGT, KSS, GPS, M, JWN, MA, AMZN)

We are right at a week away from the highly awaited Black Friday for 2009’s holiday and Christmas season.  As you likely know, this is THE day that retailers look forward to all year and critically depend upon as an anchor to how each retailer’s full year earnings results turn out.  You may already be tired of Christmas ads and the holidays haven’t even arrived yet.  With over 10% unemployment, a recession-end that doesn’t feel like a recession-end, a very tight discretionary spending budget, and a general lack of consumer confidence, it is no surprise at all that the focus for the Holiday Season in 2009 is one of deals and thrift.

These are not in any particular order, but the promotions have been reviewed at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT), Best Buy Co. (NYSE: BBY), Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ: COST), Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT), Kohl’s Corp. (NYSE: KSS), Gap Inc. (NYSE: GPS), Macy’s, Inc. (NYSE: M), and Nordstrom Inc. (NYSE: JWN).  There is also already promotion between MasterCard Incorporated (NYSE: MA) and Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN).  Admittedly, this is just a sampling of major outlets.

What is amazing is just how much of the deal-making is already out before the holiday season starts as retailers key off of each other.  It is almost impossible to avoid thinking how such a promotional Christmas and Holiday Season in 2009 is going to add pressure to margins at almost all the first-line retailers.
Read More »

Posted on: November 19, 2009 – 12:54 pm in Apparel, Calendar, Editor's Picks, Entertainment, Luxury, Product Review, Retail, , , , , , , , , ,

Top 10 Analyst Upgrades, Downgrades, Initiations (ADI, ACI, ISRG, BTU, PHM, RIMM, STX, SPWRA, TGT, WDC)

These are this Wednesday’s top ten analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen in Wall Street research calls:

Analog Devices (NYSE: ADI) Raised to Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs.
Arch Coal (NYSE: ACI) Started as Overweight at HSBC.
Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ: ISRG) Started as Market Perform at Morgan Keegan.
Peabody Energy (NYSE: BTU) Started as Overweight at HSBC.
Pulte Homes (NYSE: PHM) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
Research-in-Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) Cut to Market Perform at BMO.
Seagate Technology (NASDAQ: STX) Cut to Underperform at BofA Merrill Lynch.
Sunpower Corporation (NASDAQ: SPWRA) Cut to Neutral at Janney Montgomery Scott.
Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Western Digital Corp. (NYSE: WDC) Cut to Underperform at BofA Merrill Lynch.

You can join our open email distribution list to hear more news on key analyst calls, top day trader alerts, mergers and acquisitions, Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private equity, and more.

JON C. OGG

Posted on: November 18, 2009 – 7:53 am in Analyst Calls, Pre-Market Activity, Trading Alert, , , , , , , , , ,

Should McDonald’s And Wal-Mart Shelter The Mentally Ill And The Homeless?

It could be the economy or the fact that spending time in McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD), Target (NYSE:TGT), Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX), and Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) is more pleasant than it used to be. All of these retailers certainly have clean and well-heated stores.

There appears to be a rise in the number of homeless people and people who are mentally ill in the aisles and at the tables of America’s largest retailers, fast food coffee chains and restaurants. These establishments are often crowded enough or are in buildings that cover enough square feet so that a person could be lost, or to some extent hide in plain sight.

Read More »

Posted on: November 17, 2009 – 5:10 am in Economy, Editor's Picks, , , ,

Target (TGT) Promotes $3 Appliances

hersheyDVDs and e-books that sell for under $10 is one thing. Appliances that sell for $3 is another. Target (NYSE:TGT) is offering toasters, coffee makers, and slow roasters at $3 each, according to data from GotADeal.com.  It is a sign that discounting to pull in retail customers is getting out of hand.

A number of retail industry analysts have questioned whether Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT), Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), and Target (NYSE:TGT) can make money on their DVD promotions. It is just as likely that they choose to lose money on these items to draw people into stores or to their online sites.. They hope that those customers will buy more expensive products that have reasonable profit margins. It is a risk, but given the revenues of the three companies, not a big one. Read More »

Posted on: November 13, 2009 – 6:11 am in Retail, , ,

Wal-Mart (WMT) Drives Price Wars To DVDs

WMTWal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) is not satisfied challenging rivals like Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Target (NYSE:TGT) in the e-book and toy businesses. Its program to take the lion’s share of the modest number of consumers likely to come out during the end-of-recession shopping season has been extended to DVDs.

Walmart.com has started to offer DVDs which are likely to be hot sellers for only $9.99. Most have retail prices of $25 to $30, so the world’s largest retailer is not likely to be making money on them. It is part of Wal-Mart’s strategy to get people in the “door” and then sell them other items. Read More »

Posted on: November 6, 2009 – 5:11 am in Retail, , ,

Media Digest 11/6/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

newspaperReuters:   The Wall St. insider trading probe lead to another 14 arrests.

Reuters:   Fannie Mae (NYSE:FNM) lost $19 billion and asked Treasury for money.

Reuters:   GM is readying its plans for Opel as some of its workers went on strike.

Reuters:   The pay czar says the jury is still out on reforms. Read More »

Posted on: November 6, 2009 – 3:58 am in Press Digest, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Wal-Mart (WMT): More Toy Price Cuts And Big City Dreams

WMTWal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) becomes more aggressive in soliciting new customers and undercutting rivals as each week passes. It has the balance sheet and retail locations to do those things.

The world’s largest retailer recently cut the prices of 100 toys below $10 and brought the price that it charges for popular e-books under $10 to take market share from Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN).

Wal-Mart knows that this holiday retail season will probably be very weak because of unemployment and lack of access to credit for many consumers, so it is not finished offering bargains to bring in customers. Read More »

Posted on: November 2, 2009 – 6:01 am in Retail, , , ,

Small Books Stores, Hurt By Amazon, Try To Strike Back

magazinAmazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), Target (NYSE:TGT), and Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) are apparently sharply limiting the number of books customers can buy under their programs to sell popular titles at discount prices. Book publishers have already claimed that the three companies are trying to monopolized book distribution.

The Wall Street Journal surmises that the reasons for the restriction on the number of books any one customer can buy has been set at two or three is that small book stores are buying the books and then marketing them up in price for their customers. While that may be true, the entrepreneur with one or two stores cannot offer the discounts that Amazon can. The huge e-commerce company can afford to lose money on the titles because visitors to it website may but other items. The book shop owner cannot afford to adopt the same tactic. Read More »

Posted on: October 30, 2009 – 6:08 am in Media, Regulation, , ,

Top 10 Analyst Upgrades, Downgrades, Initiations (AKS, APOL, BP, CRDN, RX, SNDK, STI, TGT, TXN, WYNN)

These are this Wednesday’s top 10 seen analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations which we have seen from Wall Street research calls:

AK Steel (NYSE: AKS) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
Apollo Group (NASDAQ: APOL) Cut to Neutral at BofA/Merrill.
BP plc (NYSE: BP) Cut to Hold at Citigroup; Raised to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Ceradyne (NASDAQ: CRDN) Raised to Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
IMS Health (NYSE: RX) Cut to Underperform at BofA/Merrill
SanDisk (NASDAQ: SNDK) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
SunTrust (NYSE: STI) Raised to “Top Picks” list at Citigroup.
Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) Raised to Buy from Sell at Citigroup.
Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Wynn Resorts Ltd. (NASDAQ: WYNN) Raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer.

You can join our open email distribution list to get updates on top analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader alerts, IPO’s, secondary offerings, Warren Buffett and other guru activity, M&A and more.

JON C. OGG
OCTOBER 28, 2009

Posted on: October 28, 2009 – 7:29 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , , , ,

Book Sellers Ask Justice Department To Review Amazon (AMZN) And Wal-Mart (WMT) Pricing

magazinThe American Booksellers Association wants to know the motivation of Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT), Target (NYSE:TGT), and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) for selling popular books online for under $10. The industry group has asked The Justice Department to investigate what it believes “constitute illegal predatory pricing that is damaging to the book industry and is harmful to consumers.” The association sent a letter to the Antitrust Division of the department detailing its grievances.

At the core of the dispute between publishers and the large online retailers is that major titles are being sold below the cost that Amazon and its rivals have to pay to book companies. The American Booksellers Association says that this is the equivalent of a conspiracy “to win control of the market for hardcover bestsellers.” Read More »

Posted on: October 23, 2009 – 5:14 am in Internet, Law, Retail, , ,

Media Digest (10/23/2009) Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

newspaperReuters:   Japan Airlines faces $8.8 billion in excess debt if liquidated.

Reuters:   Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) beat Wall St. estimates.

Reuters:   GM’s CEO will get a pay raise.

Reuters:   Nokia (NYSE:NOK) sued Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) over patent infringement. Read More »

Posted on: October 23, 2009 – 3:57 am in Press Digest, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Media Digest (10/21/2009) Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

newspaperReuters:   China is having trouble managing supply and demand.

Reuters:   Geithner said the core programs of the TARP are ending.

Reuters:   Yahoo! (NASDAQ:YHOO) tripled it profits.

Reuters:   Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ:JAVA) will cut 3,000 jobs due to delays in the Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL) buyout of the company. Read More »

Posted on: October 21, 2009 – 4:08 am in Press Digest, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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 »

Posted on: October 20, 2009 – 5:06 pm in Research, Uncategorized, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Media Digest (10/20/2009) Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

newspaperReuters:   Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) beat earnings forecasts.

Reuters:   The IRS is probing some homebuyers’ tax credit gains.

Reuters:   The US is ready to bring more insider trading cases.

Reuters:   More US companies are cutting bonuses. Read More »

Posted on: October 20, 2009 – 4:02 am in Press Digest, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Wal-Mart (WMT) Joins E-Book Wars

WMTThe competition in the e-reader and e-book industries gets more brutal by the day. Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) is the e-reader leader because of the success of its Kindle. Other companies including Sony (NYSE:SNE) have come out with products of their own and price cuts have already begun, presumably as a tactic to gain market share.

The e-book business is also becoming much more competitive. The largest book retailer in the country, Barnes & Noble (NYSE:BKS), has increased its presence in the sector in which Amazon is the clear leader. Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) has announced that it will launch an online bookstore.

Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT), which has one of the most visited e-commerce sites in the US, has launched a new program to sharply increase it market share in the e-book business. Read More »

Posted on: October 16, 2009 – 5:07 am in Internet, , , , ,

Wal-Mart (WMT) Is The Next Wal-Mart

WMTThe New York Times has joined a long line of media and analysts who say that Amazon (AMZN) will menace bricks-and-mortar superstore retailers the way that it did the traditional book shops and DVD distributors.

The Times points out the general merchandise sales at Amazon will top sales of media products like movies and music later this year. Amazon has also launched a line of its own private-label consumer electronics. The range of products that the company offers online is matching it burgeoning growth aspirations. Read More »

Posted on: September 21, 2009 – 5:55 am in Internet, Retail, , , ,

Shorts Flee Tech Stocks (MSFT)(INTC)(ORCL)(CSCO)

bearShort sellers moved out of tech stocks in large volumes at mid-month. Based on short interest figures as of August 14, shares short in Intel (INTC) fell 33% to 88.3 million. The short interest in Microsoft (MSFT) was down 4% to 65.1 million. Shares short in Cisco (CSCO) fell 14% to 44.2 million. Short interest in Oracle (ORCL) dropped 13% to 29.5 million. The short interest in Nvidia (NVDA) dropped 29% to 26.2 million.

Among other widely followed stocks traded on Nasdaq, shares short in Sirius XM (SIRI) fell 11% to 119.6 million. Shares short in Level 3 (LVLT) were down 5% to 93.8 million. The short interest in Starbucks (SBUX) was up 10% to 44.3 million. Read More »

Posted on: August 25, 2009 – 7:00 pm in Short Interest, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Top 10 Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ANF, AA, ANN, ASMI, KLIC, MDAS, MSFT, BPOP, TGT, DIS)

These are Wednesday’s top ten analyst research summary upgrades, downgrades, and initiations from Wall Street brokerage firms:

Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE: ANF) Cut to Neutral at Susquehanna.
Alcoa (NYSE:AA) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Ann Taylor (NYSE:ANN) Raised to Buy at UBS.
ASM International (NASDAQ:ASMI) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Kulicke & Soffa (NASDAQ:KLIC) Started as Buy at Jefferies.
MedAssets (NASDAQ:MDAS) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Raised to Buy at AmTech.
Popular Inc. (NASDAQ: BPOP) Raised to Outperform at KBW.
Target (NYSE:TGT) Raised to Overweight at Piper Jaffray.
Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS) Started as Buy at Janney Montgomery Scott.

JON C. OGG
AUGUST 19, 2009

Posted on: August 19, 2009 – 7:53 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , , , ,

Target Core Brand Re-Launch, All About Lower Prices (TGT, WMT)

Up and UpTarget Corporation (NYSE: TGT) was hurt as the recession took hold and customers had to go searching for cheaper and cheaper products.  Wal-Mart Stores (NYSE: WMT) was the winner there.  Now Target is aiming to fight back with cheaper products of its own brand, the “up & up” brand.
Read More »

Posted on: June 25, 2009 – 8:27 am in Consumer Goods, Retail, ,

Media Digest 6/19/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

newspaperReuters:   Investors are putting money into emerging markets except Eastern Europe.

Reuters:   Stanford will go to court for a $8 billion fraud allegation.

Reuters:   RIM’s (RIMM) outlook disappointed.

Reuters:   CEOs at bailed out companies used corporate jets for private trips.

Reuters:   Congress may not accept all of Obama’s financial reforms. Read More »

Posted on: June 19, 2009 – 2:59 am in Autos, Banking, China, Compensation, Drug companies, Mergers and Buy Outs, Pharmaceuticals, Press Digest, Private Equity, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,