Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.
What: Shares of The Pantry (NASDAQ: PTRY ) were down as much as 15% today after the convenience-store chain posted a second-quarter loss and missed Wall Street estimates.
So what: The southeastern U.S. retailer's profits were improved from a year ago, but The Pantry still posted an adjusted loss of $0.28 a share. Revenue was down 8% to $1.89 billion. Analysts had been eyeing a per-share loss of $0.26 and sales at $1.90 billion. Same-store sales were down 2%; however, the category improved 0.1% when cigarette sales are factored out. CEO Dennis Hatchell blamed the poor results on a 4.6% drop in customer traffic, bad weather, and low consumer confidence.
Now what: The January-March quarter is a seasonally weak one for The Pantry, so the results need to be looked at in that context. The Pantry also closed 35-40 stores, which accounts for the larger drop in revenue. While the company didn't miss estimates by that much, it's disconcerting to see same-store sales and overall traffic down, indicating that the company seems to be headed in the wrong direction. The Pantry saw improvement in fuel margins, the item that makes up the vast majority of its sales, and analysts are still expecting a per-share profit of $0.73 for the year, but with key financial indicators moving in the wrong direction and no competitive advantage, there seems to be little reason to invest.
Top Recreation Companies For 2015: Polo Ralph Lauren Corporation(RL)
Ralph Lauren Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the design, marketing, and distribution of lifestyle products. The company offers men?s, women?s, and children?s clothing; and accessories comprising footwear, eyewear, watches, jewelry, hats, and belts, as well as leather goods, including handbags and luggage. It also provides products for homes, including bedding and bath products, furniture, fabric and wallpaper, paint, tabletop, and giftware; and fragrance products for women men. In addition, the company licenses its products, such as men?s sportswear, men?s tailored clothing, men?s underwear and sleepwear, eyewear, fragrances, cosmetics, and color and skin care products. It offers its products under the Polo by Ralph Lauren, Ralph Lauren Purple Label, Ralph Lauren Women?s Collection, Black Label, Blue Label, Lauren by Ralph Lauren, RRL, RLX, Rugby, Ralph Lauren Childrenswear, American Living, Chaps, and Club Monaco brand names. Ralph Lauren sells its products to department stores, specialty stores, and golf and pro shops; full-price retail stores, factory retail stores, and concessions-based shop-within-shops; and online through RalphLauren.com and Rugby.com. As of April 3, 2010, it operated 179 full-price retail stores and 171 factory stores worldwide, as well as 281 concessions-based shop-within-shops and 2 e-commerce Websites. The company was formerly known as Polo Ralph Lauren Corporation and changed its name to Ralph Lauren Corporation in August 2011. Ralph Lauren Corporation was founded in 1967 and is based in New York, New York.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Jonathan Berr]
During the company’s recent earnings conference call, CEO Carol Meyrowitz struck a positive note, adding that TJX is “confident that we will become a substantially bigger company, driving both the top and bottom line. ”
#2 – Ralph Lauren (RL)YTD: 16%
P/E: 22
Average 52-week price target: $195.60 (12% potential upside) - [By Grace L. Williams]
Two very different retailers–supermarket chain Kroger (KR) and�high-end apparel retailer Ralph Lauren (RL)–caught our eye this afternoon for the same reason: analyst downgrades that slammed stock prices.
Top 5 Consumer Stocks To Invest In 2014: Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc.(GMCR)
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. engages in the specialty coffee and coffee maker business. The company sources, produces, and sells approximately 200 varieties of coffee, cocoa, teas, and other beverages in K-Cup portion packs and coffee in traditional packaging, including whole bean and ground coffee selections in bags and ground coffee in fractional packs for use in at-home (AH) and away-from-home (AFH). It sells its products primarily in North America through supermarkets, club stores, and convenience stores; in restaurants and hospitality; and to office coffee distributors, as well as directly to consumers through its Website. The company also manufactures gourmet single-cup brewing systems and brewing equipment. In addition, it sells AH single-cup brewers; accessories; and coffee, tea, hot cocoa, and other beverages in K-Cup portion packs, as well as offers other licensed roasters to retailers, department stores, and mass merchandisers. Further, the company sells AFH single-cup brewers to distributors for use in offices. It provides its products under the Van Houtte, Br�erie St. Denis, Br�erie Mont-Royal, and Orient Express brands, as well as licensed Bigelow and Wolfgang Puck brands. The company was founded in 1981 and is based in Waterbury, Vermont.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Laura Brodbeck]
Next week investors will be waiting for several key earnings reports including�J.C. Penney Company (NYSE: JCP), Campbell Soup Company (NYSE: CPB), Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR), Salesfore.com, Inc. (NYSE: CRM), and Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE: HD).
- [By Steven Russolillo]
WATCH FOR: First-Quarter Productivity (8:30 a.m. Eastern Time): seen -1.1%; previously +1.8%. First-Quarter Unit Labor Costs (8:30): seen +2.8%; previously -0.1%. March Consumer Credit (3:00): seen +$16.1 B; previously $16.5B. Allergan(AGN), AOL(AOL), Avis Budget(CAR), CenturyLink, Chesapeake Energy(CHK), CF Industries(CF), Devon Energy(DVN), Duke Energy(DUK), Dynergy, Hertz, Humana, Keurig Green Mountain(GMCR), Lamar Advertising(LAMR), Molson Coors/Miller, Mondelez, Prudential, SolarCity(SCTY), Sotheby's(BID), Tesla Motors(TSLA), Transocean and 21st Century Fox are among companies scheduled to report quarterly results.
Top 5 Consumer Stocks To Invest In 2014: Outerwall Inc (OUTR)
Outerwall Inc, formerly Coinstar, Inc., incorporated on October 12, 1993, is a provider of automated retail solutions, which offers convenient products and services. the Company's offerings in automated retail include its Redbox business, where consumers can rent or purchase movies and video games from self-service kiosks (Redbox segment), and its Coin business, where consumers can convert their coin to cash or stored value products at self-service coin counting kiosks (Coin segment). Its New Ventures business (New Ventures segment) is focused on identifying, evaluating, building, and developing self-service concepts in the marketplace. On June 9, 2011, the Company completed the sale transaction of the Money Transfer Business to Sigue Corporation (Sigue). In June 2012, the Company�� wholly owned subsidiary, Redbox Automated Retail, LLC, acquired certain assets of NCR Corp's self-service entertainment DVD kiosk business. In October 2013, Jana Partners LLC acquired a 13.5% stake in Outerwall Inc.
Redbox
Within the Company�� Redbox segment, it operates 35,400 Redbox kiosks, in 29,300 locations, where consumers can rent or purchase movies and video games. Its Redbox kiosks are available in every state, as well as Puerto Rico and are installed at grocery stores, mass retailers, drug stores, restaurants and convenience stores, including Walgreens, Walmart and McDonalds. Its Redbox kiosks supply the functionality of a traditional video rental store, which occupy an area of less than 10 square feet. Consumers use a touch screen to select their titles, swipe a valid credit or debit card, and receive their movie or video game. The daily rental fee at a Redbox kiosk is a flat fee plus tax for one daily rental and, if the consumer chooses to keep the movie or video game for additional days, the consumer is charged for each additional day at the same daily rental fee. Its consumers can rent a movie or video game from one location and return their rental to any of its Redbox locations.! In addition, its consumers may reserve a movie or video game online or through a smart phone application and pick it up at the selected Redbox location.
The Company generates revenue through fees charged to rent or purchase a movie or video game, and it pays retailers a percentage of its revenue. Its content library consists of movies and video games available for rent or purchase. It obtains its movie and video game content through revenue sharing agreements and license agreements with studios and game publishers, as well as through distributors and other suppliers.
Coin
As of December 31, 2011, within the Company�� Coin segment, it owned and operated approximately 20,200 coin-counting kiosks (approximately 17,200, of which offer a range of stored value products to consumers) in 19,900 locations, where consumers feed loose change into the kiosks, which count the change and then dispense vouchers or, in some cases, issue stored value products, at the consumer�� election. Its Coin kiosks are available across the United States, where they provide service to retailers, such as Kroger and Walmart, and in Canada, Puerto Rico, Ireland and the United Kingdom. It generates revenue through transaction fees from its consumers and product partners. Each voucher lists the dollar value of coins counted, less its transaction fee. When consumers elect to have a stored value product issued, the transaction fee normally charged to the consumer is charged instead to the card issuers for the coin-counting services.
New Ventures
Within the Company�� New Ventures segment, it identifies, evaluates, builds and develops self-service concepts in the automated retail space. Its New Ventures segment consists of its coffee, refurbished electronics and photo self-service concepts. It generates revenue through fees charged for products and services offered to consumers in select test markets where it is testing business concepts.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Doug Ehrman]
Redbox Instant: This joint venture between Outerwall (NASDAQ: OUTR ) and Verizon (NYSE: VZ ) is the newest addition to the streaming video battle. The new service gives you access to a distinct number of rentals at Redbox kiosks plus access to the 5,000 titles currently available. CEO Scott Di Valerio explains that where Redbox is the outer wall of old video stores (where new releases were displayed), the streaming service fills in the center of the store (older titles). While the service is in its infancy, one angle that could be a game-changer for Redbox Instant is mobile. With Verizon as a JV partner, you can imagine that Redbox Instant could be the first streaming video player to truly make the jump to mobile. Netflix, for example, is available on most mobile devices, but the data usage is significant. If Verizon chooses to offer Redbox Instant to its wireless customers, while giving them a break on data, this could change the landscape.
- [By Eric Bleeker, CFA]
The Motley Fool is on the road in Seattle! Recently, we visited Coinstar -- now officially renamed�Outerwall� (NASDAQ: OUTR ) -- to speak with CFO-turned-CEO Scott Di Valerio about the 22-year-old company's well-known coin-cashing machines, as well as its more recent acquisition of Redbox, and future initiatives to expand into other aspects of the automated retail market.
Top 5 Consumer Stocks To Invest In 2014: Star Scientific Inc (STSI)
Star Scientific, Inc. (Star Scientific), incorporated on June 24, 1985, is engaged in the manufacturing and production of dietary supplements. The Company�� operating subsidiaries manufacture, distribute and sell consumer products and dietary supplements. Its segment includes dietary supplements. Through its Rock Creek Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Rock Creek) subsidiary, the Company is engaged in the manufacture, sale, marketing and development of non-nicotine nutraceutical, dietary supplements: Anatabloc, for anti-inflammatory support; the manufacture, sale and marketing of a cosmetic facial cream, and the development of other nutraceuticals, dietary supplements and pharmaceutical products. On December 14, 2012, the Company voted to discontinue the manufacturing, distribution and sale of its dissolvable smokeless tobacco products, Ariva and Stonewall Hard Snuff, as of December 31, 2012. With this change it will no longer be manufacturing or selling any tobacco products.
Rock Creek Pharmaceuticals has been engaged in the development of other dietary supplements and pharmaceutical products, particularly products that have a botanical- based component and that are designed to provide nutritional support in a range of neurological conditions, including Alzheimer�� disease, Parkinson�� disease, schizophrenia, depression, and Hashimoto�� thyroiditis. Rock Creek Pharmaceuticals also has been involved in the development of a cosmetic line of products that utilizes its anatabine compound to improve the appearance of the skin. On September 10, 2012, the Company introduced Anatabloc Facial Creme into the market. As of November 9, 2012, Anatabloc was being sold through its interactive Website, a customer service center and on a consignment basis through GNC, which is a retailer of dietary supplements. The Company uses its anatabine citrate compound in its dietary supplements Anatabloc and Anatabloc Unflavored and its anatabine-based cosmetic product, Anatabloc Facial Creme.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Jake L'Ecuyer]
Consumer goods stocks were underperformers in Tuesday's trading, up on the day by just 0.5% compared to S&P's 1.03 percent gain. Among the consumer goods stocks, shares of Star Scientific (NASDAQ: STSI) were down by more than 1 percent.
- [By Bryan Murphy]
A week and a half ago I posted a bullish - though condition - commentary on Star Scientific, Inc. (NASDAQ:STSI). Truth be told, I expected that potential bullishness to be unleashed a few days later. When it didn't unfurl, frankly, I started to forget about STSI. Fortunately I didn't completely put the stock on the shelf, because it finally formed that technical catalyst yesterday, and followed-through today.
For those who caught my first look at STSI, you may recall that the big catalyst was the horizontal ceiling at $2.11. That was where the stock peaked in mid-July, and that's also where it was peaking on the same day I penned my prior bullish comments. Sure enough, Star Scientific shares peeled back from there later in the same day. The stock tested $2.11 again on the 9th, and once again peeled back. By the time we got that third test/failure cycle logged, however, it was clear something was changing... for the better. - [By Bryan Murphy]
The last time I looked at Star Scientific, Inc. (NASDAQ:STSI) was in mid-August, when I pointed out how the stock looked like it was finally beginning a breakout via a move above that nagging ceiling at $2.11. I didn't revisit it in the meantime because STSI peeled back under that key resistance level, and even back under its short-term moving lines. It wasn't a dramatic or painful pullback, but it was more than enough to put the breakout idea on the shelf until further notice.
- [By Lisa Levin]
Star Scientific (NASDAQ: STSI) shares reached a new 52-week low of $1.02 after the company received a warning letter from the FDA regarding consumer products.
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