Category Archives: Consumer Discretionary
Housing Market Update – February 2019
The outlook for housing (or more precisely, sentiment about the outlook for housing) has improved in recent weeks, primarily because of the decline in mortgage rates. The average rate on the 30-year mortgage has fallen by 57 basis points (bp) … Continue reading
Acme United Battles the Headwinds
2018 was a rough year for investors in Acme United Corporation’s (ACU) stock, including CEO Walter Johnsen who owns 15% of the outstanding shares. ACU’s 2018 total return was -38%, worse than the Zack’s Micro Cap Index’s 17% decline. The … Continue reading
Questions About ESL’s Debt Reduction Proposal for Sears
On Sept. 23, in a 13D filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, ESL Investments attached a proposal that it had made to Sears Holding (SHLD) that would reduce SHLD’s total outstanding debt by 78% through a combination of asset … Continue reading
A Process of Adjustment for the Homebuilders
2018 has been rough for homebuilding stocks. The Lark Research Homebuilder Stock Index, which is an equal-weighted measure of the price performance of ten publicly-traded homebuilders, was down 19.9% year-to-date through August 3rd, far worse than the gains of 6.2% … Continue reading
StoneMor’s Unit Price Plummets as it Files its Delayed 10-K
Since peaking at $32.01 in July 2015, the MLP units of StoneMor Partners LP (STON) have lost nearly 90% of their value. The steepest part of the decline began in October 2016, just before STON cut its quarterly distribution in … Continue reading
Bed Bath But Not Beyond Hope
BBBY has lost 70% of its value over the past three years. Profits are down sharply mostly because of price competition. Store comparable net sales have been falling mid-single digits, offset by growth in online/mobile sales and other areas. Management … Continue reading
GM’s Q3 Results Beat Expectations
General Motors Company (GM) reported third quarter EPS of $0.08 vs. $1.76 in the prior year. Excluding unusual items – a $2.3 billion, $1.24 per share deferred tax adjustment related to the sale of GM’s European operations in 2017 and … Continue reading
Sears Canada Moves Toward Liquidation
Sears Canada (SCC.TO) announced yesterday (10/10) that it would seek court approval to close all of its stores and lay off nearly all of its 13,000 employees. The move comes after the company’s Executive Chairman Brandon Strazl failed to obtain … Continue reading
Sears Holdings (SHLD): On a Course to Bankruptcy
It has been about 12 years since Edward S. Lampert acquired Sears and merged it with Kmart to create Sears Holdings (SHLD). Despite numerous spin-offs, asset sales and store closings, which have provided positive returns to shareholders, Sears Holdings today … Continue reading
2017 Housing Market Outlook
Housing market activity has strengthened in recent months. This has raised the hope of another leg up in the recovery. Yet, investors are still skeptical about the industry’s future prospects.
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