Costco Releases Q1 ’14 Earnings Tomorrow.  Preview:

“Rise In Membership Will Lead To Growth; Online Business Most Viable Growth Engine” at Seeking Alpha. “Costco’s online sales account for only 2% of its overall revenues, suggesting that there is a huge room for improvement…About 80%-90% of its products offered online do not overlap with the stores’ inventory, which enables the retailer to prevent cannibalization of its store sales to some extent.”  Read more

 

“Costco:  Do Not Buy This Stock” at Seeking Alpha.  “Costco presently trades at the largest P/E ratio of the discount stores which include large-cap retailers like Wal-Mart and Target but also Dollar General, Dollar Tree and Family Dollar Stores. Costco demands a P/E multiple of 22.02 which is significantly above the average peer group P/E ratio of 16.27.”  Read more

 

“You Are Where You Shop:  GOP = Walmart & Costco; Dem = Whole Foods & Trader Joe’s; Ind = Grocery Stores” by Reid Wilson at Washington Post.  “People who consume energy drinks are more likely to have shopped at a big box store than anywhere else. An energy drink consumer is 22 percent more likely to shop at a big box, and slightly less likely than the average adult to shop at a specialty or traditional grocery store.”  Read more

 

“Target Ads Since The 1960s (Be Gifty – Be Thrify circa 1972); Cue The Nostalgia” by Ellie Krupnick at HuffPo.  “Those of us who worship at the hallowed gates of Target lust after the store’s trendy clothes and cute home decor. But Target has been around long before the designer collaboration days — in fact, Target was founded in 1962 as a discount version of the store Dayton’s.”  See the Ads

 

“Nader Slams Dollar General:  Decries ‘Shameful’ Treatment of Workers (But He Likes Costco!)” at The Tennessean.  “Ralph Nader also sent letters to the CEOs at two of Dollar General’s major competitors – Family Dollar and Dollar Tree.  Dollar General responded to Nader’s letter Monday night in a statement: “We, like other retailers, will be watching with keen interest and are hopeful for a thoughtful debate in Congress over the issue of where to set the federally mandated minimum wage.”  Read more

 

Lowe’s Insiders Sell $4 Million + in  Shares:

“Gregory Bridgeford Sells Over $3.5 Million in Lowe’s Stock” at American Banking News.  “Gregory Bridgeford sold 80,000 shares of the company’s stock on the open market in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.71, for a total transaction of $3,736,800.00.”  Read more

 

“Lowe’s Director Peter Browning Sells Nearly a Half a Million $ in Lowe’s Stock” at Zolmax News.  “Director Peter Browning sold 9,761 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.92, for a total transaction of $457,986.12.”  Read more

 

“Inside the RadioShack Pop-Up Celebration in Times Square” by Stephanie Maida at Guest of a Guest.  “Cue the DJ!”  See the pictures

 

“Gander Mountain: Pedal to the Floor with New Stores – Announces 1st Store in Missouri” by Kavita Kumar at St. Louis Post Dispatch.  “Jason Long, a St. Louis area retail consultant with Shift Marketing Group, said there was room for another “bullet and hook” store in the region.  Cabela’s and Bass Pro Shops each have one store in St. Louis and are quite popular. Other retailers such as Sports Authority and Dick’s Sporting Goods dabble in this area, too, but don’t have as much breadth, he added.”  Read more

 

“Banana Shortage in Dallas” by Maria Halkias at Dallas News.  “Produce deliveries in general have been delayed by the ice storm, but I’ve been hearing complaints since right before the storm that we’ve had a banana shortage around town.  Bananas are very perishable and have to be shipped several times a week, said Kroger spokesman Gary Huddleston. “All bananas come from Central America by boat to a port and then sent by truck to a distribution center. The last stop is the store.”  Read more

 

“Best Buy sues Ohio man for using ‘geeksquad’ in websites” by Steve Alexander at Star-Tribune.  “The suit alleges that Parsons has registered the Internet addresses affordablegeeksquad.com and cheap geeksquad.com for his computer services businesses, and also alleges that his use of the Geek Squad trademark “has caused, and will continue to cause, irreparable harm” to Best Buy. The suit seeks $200,000 in damages plus attorneys’ fees.”  Read more

 

Quotable:

John Donahue, eBay CEO, responding to Amazon Drone mania, “We’re not focusing on long-term fantasies, we’re focusing on things we can do today.”  Read more

 

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