WALL STREET DOUCHEBAGS CHEER BEST BUY’S $400 MILLION LOSS

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Posted on 1st March 2013 by Administrator in Economy |Politics |Social Issues

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Here we go again. The Wall Street cheerleaders and the CNBC bubble headed bimbos are actaully cheering the absolutely horrible results of Best Buy. They should change their name to Worst Buy. The Wall Street scumbags had driven the stock higher when the founder said he was going to take Best Buy over and take it private. Well, he backed out last night. I wonder why?

Here is a link to the terrible 4th quarter results:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/best-buy-reports-fourth-quarter-130000476.html

Here is my assessment of the dying retailer:

  • Their 4th quarter revenue was flat, even with an entire extra week. That means their sales really fell 7.7%.
  • Comparable store sales declined and gross margins plunged.
  • They lost $409 million in the quarter that is supposed to be the best for retailers and they’ve lost $1.6 BILLION in the last two years.
  • They already warned that the 1st quarter of 2013 will be a disaster, which means hundreds of millions in losses.
  • Their cashflow from operations DECLINED by $1.6 BILLION in one year.

This is a company in freefall. Their bricks and mortar concept is dying. Amazon and other on-line avenues are cleaning their clock. The Geek Squad will not save them. The founder, Dick Shulze, walked away from his buyout offer. Only an idiot would want to buy this future footnote in retail history. Of course Wall Street thinks it’s the best time to buy. Have they ever been wrong?

ONLY 2,400 BIG BOX STORES TO CLOSE IN NEXT FEW YEARS

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Posted on 30th January 2013 by Administrator in Economy |Politics |Social Issues

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Nothing like a little reality on a Wednesday afternoon. Below is a list of the worst of the worst retailers in the U.S. Hysterically, there are multiple articles about JC Penney this morning and the surge in their stock price yesterday because their dumbass CEO has announced a major change in strategy. Drum roll please. He is going back to having fake sales. The idiots who call themselves financial analysts immediately expounded upon the brilliance of this move. After losing $1 billion of business in one year, this will surely turn the ship back on course.

So solly. The list below, along with the three other failed retailers – Gamestop, Office Max and Radio Shack will be closing thousands of stores in the near future. Just think of all the benefits this will provide. More ghost malls across America. It will do wonders for the Space Available sign manufacturers. Maybe some new retail concepts can gain a foothold – Soup Kitchens R Us, Used Body Parts Thrift Store, or a cafe catering to senior citizens with your choice of cat or dog food. 

It should really test the accounting fraud skills of mall owners, property developers, and our friendly Wall Street bankers as rental income dries up and loan payments on vacant malls become a little challenging. I’m sure Bernanke can convince the FASB to let the banks convert all commercial loans to balloon payment loans with a 50 year term. Therefore, all will be well. No need for cashflow or tenants. I should work for the government.

There should be some great going out of business sales. I’m looking forward to it.

Retailers That Will Close the Most Stores

by | January 29, 2013 at 1:24 PM | Economy, General, Shopping

(AP Photo/Dave Martin)

By Douglas A. McIntyre, Samuel Weigley, Alexander E.M. Hess and Michael B. Sauter, 24/7 Wall St.

It is the time of year again, when America’s largest retailers release those  critical holiday season figures and disclose their annual sales. A review of  these numbers tells us a great deal about how most of the companies will do in  the upcoming year. And while successful retailers in 2012 may add stores this  year, those that have performed very poorly may have to cut locations during  2013 to improve margins or reverse losses.

For many retailers, the sales situation is so bad that it is not a question  of whether they will cut stores, but when and how many. Most recently, Barnes & Noble Inc. (NYSE:  BKS) decided it had too many stores to maintain profits. Its CEO recently  said he plans to close as many as a third of the company’s locations.

Several of America’s largest retailers have been battered for years. Most  have been undermined by a combination of e-commerce competition, often from  Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:  AMZN) and more successful retailers in the same areas. Borders and Circuit  City are two of the best examples of retailers that were destroyed by larger  bricks-and-mortar competition and consumers transitioning to online shopping.  These large, badly damaged retailers could not possibly keep their stores  open.

RELATED: The Most Hated Companies in America

24/7 Wall St. reviewed the weakest large U.S. retailers and picked those that  likely will not be profitable next year if they keep their current location  counts. 24/7 analyzed the retailers’ store counts, recent financial data, online presences, prospects against direct  competitors and precedents set by other large retailers that have downsized by  shuttering locations. We then forecast how many stores each retailer will have  to close this year to sharply increase its prospects financially, even if some  of those location closings do not occur for several years. These forecasts were  based on drops in same-store sales, drops in revenue, a review of direct  competitors, Internet sales and the size of cuts at retailers  in the same sector, if those were available.

5. Barnes & Noble
> Forecast store closings: 190 to  240, per company comments
> Number of U.S. stores: 689
>  One-year stock performance: 8.95%

The move by customers away from print books toward digital books has hurt  Barnes & Noble Inc. (NYSE:  BKS). Same-store sales during the nine-week holiday season fell by 8.2%  year-over-year. The bookseller has tried to offset the declines in physical book  sales with its Nook e-book reader device, but sales of that device fell 13%  compared to the previous year. The company already has begun cutting down  the number of its stores in the past several years. In a recent interview with  the Wall Street Journal, the head of the retail group at Barnes & Noble said  he expected the company to have just 450 to 500 retail stores in 10 years.

RELATED: The Best- and Worst-Run Cities in America

4. Office Depot
> Forecast store closings: 125 to 150
> Number of U.S. stores: 1,114
> One-year stock  performance: 50.7%

Office Depot Inc.’s (NYSE:  ODP) troubles date back to years of competition against OfficeMax Inc. (NYSE:  OMX) and Staples Inc. (NASDAQ:  SPLS), as well as big-box retailers like Walmart. All three stores were  dealt a blow from reduced business activity during the recession, as well as  increased popularity of online retailers such as Amazon. The company’s North  American division reported an operating loss of $21 million in the third quarter  of 2012. Office Depot plans to relocate or downsize as many as 500 locations and  close at least 20 stores. In the third quarter of 2012, the company closed four  stores in the United States, and same-store sales were down by 4%  year-over-year.

3. J.C. Penney
> Forecast store closings: 300 to 350
> Number of U.S. stores: 1,100
> One-year stock performance: -53.6%

J.C. Penney has gone through a rough stretch recently. In the most recent  quarter, same-store sales fell by 26.1% compared to the year-ago period. Even  Internet sales, which are increasing significantly across the retail sector,  have taken a turn for the worst, falling 37.3% in the third quarter, compared to  the prior year. J.C. Penney sales have taken a turn for the worst since former Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:  AAPL) retail chief Ron Johnson took the helm at the company. Johnson’s plan,  among others, has been to wean customers off of heavy discounting and simply  give customers low prices. However, retail strategists and analysts have argued  that Johnson’s plans have created confusion among customers and has been a  further setback to any potential turnaround.

RELATED: States with the Best and Worst School Systems

2. Sears Holding Corp.
> Forecast store closings: Kmart  175 to 225, Sears 100 to 125
> Number of U.S. stores: 2,118
> One-year stock performance: 8.8%

Both Sears and Kmart have been going down the tubes for a long-time, steadily  losing their middle-income shoppers to retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc.  (NYSE:  WMT) and Target Corp. (NYSE:  TGT). Sears Holdings Corp.’s (NASDAQ:  SHLD) same-store sales have declined for six years. In the most recent year,  same-store sales at the namesake franchise fell by 1.6% and at Kmart by 3.7%,  compared to the year-ago period. The company is already in the process of  downsizing its brick-and-mortar presence. In 2012, Sears announced it was  shutting 172 stores. CEO Lou D’Ambrosio is leaving the company in February, to  be replaced by chairman and hedge-fund manager Edward Lampert. Lampert has  minimal operating experience in retail management.

1. Best Buy
> Forecast store closings: 200 to 250
> Number of U.S. stores:1,056
> One-year stock performance: -36.8%

The holiday season was rough for Best Buy Co. Inc. (NYSE:  BBY). Same-store sales declined by 1.4% year-over-year, with international  stores posting a 6.4% decline while U.S. same-store sales were flat.  Companywide, the electronics retailer reported that holiday revenue had declined  to $12.8 billion from $12.9 billion the year before. In the most recent  completed quarter, during which same-store sales declined 4.3%, the company  reported a loss of $0.04 per share. Best Buy has been plagued by customers “showrooming” — looking at products in the store and then purchasing them online — in recent years. Speculation persists  that former chairman and founder Richard Schulze may buy out the company.

To see the full list, visit 24/7 Wall St.

BRICKS & MORTAR RETAILING CRUMBLING

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Posted on 15th December 2012 by Administrator in Economy |Politics |Social Issues

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Anyone who thinks J.C. Penney, Sears, Best Buy, or Radio Shack just need to make a few tweaks and everything will return to normal probably believed Bernanke in 2005 when he said the housing market was not a bubble. Retail CEOs and their humungous egos refuse to acknowledge that their business concept is dying. Building new stores in this economy is like putting a gun to your head and pulling the trigger. All of these bricks and mortar retailers who are now going full speed into on-line retailing are cannibalizing their existing mall based stores. These are not incremental sales.

As gas prices shockingly rise again in 2013 and real wages shockingly decline again and two million more people shockingly leave the work force, and the MSM idiots conclude that the economy shockingly went back into recession, consumers will shockingly spend less money in the dying bricks and mortar retailers. Online sales will probably continue to grow, just as it has for the last two decades.

Retail CEOs will be forced to acknowledge that their thousands of physical stores are growing obsolete and dragging them towards bankruptcy. The announced “restructurings” will result in thousands more vacant hulking shells in more dying malls. It already looks like SPACE AVAILABLE is the hottest retailer in America. Mall developers will be defaulting on their loans, but the Wall Street banks will just “restructure” the loans so they don’t have to write them off. Who needs principal and interest payments when you have accountants and 0% loans from the Fed?  

The next time you see a Wall Street shyster recommending Sears stock and talking about the brilliance of Eddie Lampert (aka the next Warren Buffett), remember this chart. Lampert has run this joke of a retailer into the ground. The Wall Street scum touted Sears as an asset play, with thousands of valuable real estate locations. Hysterical. Who exactly is Lampert going to sell these mall locations to? Best Buy? JC Penney? Target? 

The demise of bricks and mortar retailers will be a slow motion train wreck. It already started in 2008 and will pick up steam in 2013.

THE SOUND OF DOORS CLOSING FOR GOOD

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Posted on 10th December 2012 by Administrator in Economy |Politics |Social Issues

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She’s only left out Radio Shack as one of the dead retailers walking. J.C. Penney, Sears and Best Buy are disasters in progress. J.C. Penney is so desperate, their CEO just changed is brilliant strategy and is having SALES again. Wow. What a rocket scientist. I sure hope his $20 million severance package can tide him over until some other company is stupid enough to hire him. Eddie Lampert has been running Sears/Kmart into the ground for years. I’m sure he’s going to turn it around any moment. Best Buy’s entire business concept is kaput. Wal-Mart can beat them on price, their service sucks, and Amazon is kicking their asses. Kohls is a decent retailer, but their middle class customers have run out of money.

This Christmas retail season will suck. Taxes are going up on everyone in 2013. Real wages have declined for 22 straight months during the Obama recovery. Healthcare cost are rising, food prices are rising, energy costs are rising. The largest spending demographic of 25 to 54 years old has the same number of people employed as they did in 1996. The Boomers haven’t saved enough for their retirement, so expecting a surge in their spending is a delusional fantasy.

Retailers are going to realize their business models no longer work in the Obama economy. In February you will begin to see the announcements about “restructurings” and store closings. J.C. Penney and Radio Shack will be announcing hundreds of store closings. Sears, Best Buy and Lowes will likely announce a significant number of store closings. Mall owners will have huge gaping holes in their P&Ls. Did you know that developers need rental income in order to make loan payments to the Wall Street banks? The game of extend and pretend is coming to an end. The banks will have to take the losses from these loans onto their books. Yes, 2013 is shaping up to be a doozy.

Now get out there and buy, buy, buy.

Sex sells, and other retail myths

Commentary: 5 retailers shaping up to be holiday losers

By Margaret Bogenrief


Shutterstock.com

CHICAGO (MarketWatch) — The reviews are in, sort of. Black Friday was a success. Cyber Monday? Not just a day. Or a week. But an entire month. In short, the retail world (version 2012 ) is saved.

Not so fast.

Despite upbeat headlines, occasionally violent sales lines, and frequent expert predictions that all is right in the shopping world, this holiday season’s Black Monday/Cyber Monday sales hide the dark reality of the retail market generally and the even darker truth of specific retailers: Holiday season 2012 will provide no saving grace to an industry — and weak individual players — in trouble.

Margaret Bogenrief

Regardless of the “everything’s solved!” headlines you’ve read and the “hallelujah, the slow selling season is over!” declarations you’ve heard, the retail industry is nowhere near recovered. Indeed, for some, this holiday season presents concrete financial proof something must change, should these companies wish to return to profitability in 2013.

Here are five predicted retail losers this holiday season:


Reuters

Abercrombie & Fitch: Sex no longer sells. Or so it seems. Somehow, through a combination of a market that’s outgrown its messaging combined with uncompetitive pricing in a new fast-fashion marketplace, peddler of racy advertisements A&F (NYSE:ANF)   has hit the profitability skids, a three-year trend that will continue this holiday season. As Bloomberg Businessweek noted, company executives blamed the fact that “the once-edgy retailer has lost a third of its market value in the past year as it grapples with falling sales in Europe and the U.S.” on the contraction of the global economy, there’s a simpler, more direct in-house reason for this decline: while the blend of sex and Ivy League worked financial wonders for the company from 1995-2008, the fast-fashion industry has blown past the lumbering, dated retailer, which now finds itself selling faded T-shirts for $30 in a market in which replica T-shirts price in at about $10. In short, the retail land-grab for teens raptured in youthful fashion rebellion channeled through provocative bags filled with overpriced merchandise is over. Look for the retailer to trail more significantly this holiday season and come out the other side in January more lost than ever. Abercrombie & Fitch did not respond to a request for comment. Read Bloomberg Businessweek story “At Abercrombie & Fitch, Sex No Longer Sells.”


Reuters

Best Buy: No one who’s read the business press this year is surprised by this prediction, but it bears repeating: what we are watching here is the is the slow-motion retail trainwreck that is the demise of once-mighty tech retail giant Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) . In this case, a combination of the Amazoning of the consumer retail (particularly electronic) experience, a steady decline in shopping experience and quality, and a dependence on brick-and-mortar over a cohesively evolving Web strategy (as well as limited product advantage) has brought Best Buy to its retail knees. Look for the retailer — which took another beating a few weeks ago, with shares falling 13% after the company released disappointing third-quarter results — to drop even further, post-holiday season. Read more about “Best Buy’s sense of urgency.”

A Best Buy spokeswoman disagreed with this characterization and said the company’s first priority is to “improve and evolve the customer experience,” “addressing their needs in a superior and unique fashion.” The company was not able to provide specific numbers, but during the Thanksgiving period alone, she said the company had large crowds over Black Friday weekend, popular online promotions, a 10% increase in site traffic and had one of the top three most trafficked websites for the Thanksgiving holiday and Black Friday.


Reuters

Ron Johnson, CEO of J.C. Penney.

J.C. Penney: Beating up Ron Johnson is more a hobby nowadays than a serious intellectual exercise (even for this author, who’s long since railed against the prematurely anointed “King-of-Retail”). This holiday season will truly prove, however, that Penney (NYSE:JCP)  and its misguided turnaround has no legs, perhaps before even Pershing Square’s Bill Ackerman realizes it. Muddled messaging, a confused product mix (snake-print thongs and free haircuts for kids don’t mix) and a weak Web strategy has made this company — which had more than $17 billion in sales in its last fiscal year — that much more vulnerable this holiday season. Mired in bad press and worse customer reviews — I receive dozens of emails a week from disenchanted consumers — Penney sits as the vulnerable sitting duck, susceptible to competitive pressures and customer discontentment. Look for J.C. Penney’s stock price to sink even lower in the beginning weeks of 2013. The company did not respond to a request for comment.


Reuters

Sears Holdings Corp.: What can be said of J.C. Penney can be repeated, in one form or another, about Sears (NASDAQ:SHLD)  — and not just this holiday season, but all year. While Chairman Eddie Lampert most likely doesn’t savor unwinding of one of America’s most historic and beloved brands, the Chicago-based retailer finds itself at a loss for customers and revenues. With a third-quarter net loss of $498 million, sales for the retailer dropped 5.8% to $8.86 billion, continuing a streak of declines. With little competitive advantage in its traditional hard-goods space and a lackluster website not-yet-tailored to the 21st century shopping experience, Sears finds itself losing traditional consumers to regional retailers and, of course, Wal-Mart. Despite a last minute Cyber Monday push, Sears is near the end of its retail rope and will find itself with an even lower stock price, come Christmas Day. Sears did not respond to a request for comment.


Reuters

Kohl’s Corp.: Now this final call is a bit of a wild card, but something to consider. While much has been made of Kohl’s (NYSE:KSS)  perfect position to usurp Penney’s customers, the retailer has continued to struggle this year with inventory and profitability issues. Fashion missteps contributed to the inventory glut, sapping sales; and rising input prices mean that on goods sold, gross margins have further compressed. This holiday season Kohl’s must perform if it wants to find itself in retail investors’ good graces on Jan. 1. Kohl’s did not respond to a request for comment.

Finally, don’t believe the hype. Despite what experts, retail executives, and the business press tell you, this holiday season will not be the saving grace the retail industry is looking for. Sure, the winners will continue to win, but for the laggards it could be a tough season. Look for many to fall further behind and, barring significant changes in investment and strategy, find themselves fighting for profitability come 2013.

Margaret Bogenrief is a partner with ACM Partners , a boutique financial advisory firm in Chicago, providing due diligence, performance improvement, restructuring and turnaround services. She does not have a position in any of the stocks mentioned in this column.

CLOSE PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP MY FAT ASS

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Posted on 10th November 2012 by Administrator in Economy |Politics |Social Issues

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War mongering douchebags seem to be having a bad week. The head of the biggest arms dealer on earth just got caught sticking his wick in a subordinate’s cooch. This isn’t just about cheating on your spouse. This is about power and thinking you are above the standards lived by most Americans. Power hungry cutthroat scumbags are the type of people who make it to the tops of major corporations, the government and military. They operate under a different standard and think they are superior to the commoners. They always abuse their power. ALWAYS.
 
The description of why he was fired by the company makes my skin crawl with its Bernaysian spin designed to make it seem like he was just too close to his pal. What bullshit. I’m sure this douchebag will receive a multi-million dollar severance for his dedicated service. This country and its leaders disgust and sicken me.  

Lockheed Martin ousts new CEO for relationship

BETHESDA, Md. (AP) — Lockheed Martin has ousted its president and future CEO over a relationship with a subordinate.

The defense company said Friday that its board of directors asked for and received the resignation of Christopher Kubasik from his role as vice chairman, president and chief operating officer.

Kubasik, 51, was scheduled to become CEO in January.

Lockheed Martin says an ethics investigation confirmed that he had a close personal relationship with a subordinate employee. That violates the company’s code of ethics and business conduct.

“I regret that my conduct in this matter did not meet the standards to which I have always held myself,” Kubasik said in a statement.

Kubasik said that his departure in no way reflects on the strength of Lockheed Martin and he remains confident in the future of the company, where he had worked for the past 13 years.

Kubasik joins a roster of high-ranking executives who have exited their posts in recent years over the fallout from ill-advised relationships.

Among them, former Best Buy CEO Brian Dunn, who resigned from the retailer in April after an investigation found he violated company policy by having an inappropriate relationship with a female employee.

In other cases allegations of improper behavior supported by a paper trail of questionable spending have provided enough fuel to drive top management out of the executive suite.

William Sannwald, a professor of business ethics at San Diego State University, said there’s no easy way to explain why executives continue to be ensnared in these sorts of ethical lapses.

“It just happens, and perhaps it’s the power that comes with the position that makes them feel that they can be above scrutiny,” he said.

As for Kubasik, his choice to get involved with a subordinate clearly reflects on more than just his personal life, Sannwald said.

“It’s poor judgment on his part,” Sannwald said. “And probably Lockheed might be better off that he didn’t take the position, if he exhibits that kind of poor judgment in his own personal relationships.”

Lockheed Martin’s board elected the executive vice president of its electronics systems business to take Kubasik’s role.

Marillyn Hewson, 58, will be president, chief operating officer and a director. She takes over as CEO in January. Hewson joined the company in 1983.

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