Department stores are already focusing on rejecting shipments from vendors that they ordered. They are also looking to promote inventory they already have in hand. As we get through the season, department stores are going...

The company endorsed consensus analysts’ estimates of a 15 percent EPS growth in the new fiscal year,

The sales results from the department and discount chains were mostly in line with expectations.

They are admitting they have very cloudy visibility on the very critical holiday season. What might be more significant to investors is that even though they had an admittedly superb second quarter, where are we...

The announcement by Neiman Marcus…makes us as concerned as we have ever been that this Christmas will be extremely lackluster, … It appears now the high-end consumer is beginning to scale back their purchases, which...

They’ve learned the lessons from last year and are intent upon not repeating the same mistakes.

There has been real concern for the last several months about hurricanes, about consumer sentiment, about gasoline inflation hurting consumer spending,

Discount stores have really become an increasing portion of consumers’ expenditures. Now there’s talk of fluctuating energy prices, job layoffs, and people are looking for the best value possible. So we believe the discount stores...

Wal-Mart’s EPS growth is twice that of the S&P. For the third consecutive year it has seen an increase in operating margins and we believe it still has tremendous growth opportunity over the next 5...

I think there’s a lot of confusion about the state of the consumer. We had weak numbers in January. February sales were pushed down by horrible weather, and now March could be weak because of...

The news we got today was incrementally negative, even for the best operators out there. And clearly this does not bode well for a strong holiday season.

It’s pretty well accepted that the economy is gradually building momentum, and Kmart has declared bankruptcy,

Is all this a solution for the bigger concerns of the American consumers or the local gas station owner? No. But it is an example of the company trying to show its heart in the...

Wal-Mart is a more mature company today and is showing its willingness to be more open with the press, … From investors’ point of view, this is very good news. All the negative publicity has...

It’s clear that [Wal-Mart] is going to offer very sharp price [discounts] to drive customer traffic. While [fourth-quarter] sales will be respectable, the lower prices necessary to drive traffic will filter through to earnings that...

We believe our competitors have shown irrational exuberance with Christmas forecasts, … We believe the average consumer is worried about higher gasoline prices, jobs and doesn’t believe he will benefit from the stock market. With...

The shopper appears to be in mid-season form with the holiday season just having started.

It could have been a lot worse given the expectations. We had lackluster sales through the spring, through summer, terrorist attacks, and a recession, so an increase of 1 or 2 percent is decent. The...

I think it all comes down to Wal-Mart’s aggressive advertising campaign, … They are being much louder with their campaign, and I think they’ve done a good job of stealing the ‘early-bird’ holiday shoppers.

The companies that are seeing strong gross margin improvements are getting it not from improving their merchandising mix, but from improved buying. Retailers like Wal-Mart and Target are lowering their cost of acquiring products. Sears...

We’re not out of the woods yet. Forty percent of holiday sales are wrapped up in the week before Christmas.

Despite higher gasoline prices, Wal-Mart was able to raise guidance for the second-quarter which is particularly noteworthy because that’s also the period that they will have to deal with the lion’s share of the gas...

We believe this update is a combination of management’s typical conservatism and sales sluggishness from the unusually warm weather,

Kohl’s is having a major disconnect with its customers, … The company’s inventory growth is outpacing sales and I think their problems will continue into the fourth quarter and even the first quarter next year.

It was a mixed bag, … What we got again, as we did in December, is this separation of winners and losers.

All the department stores we talked to admit quite clearly it’s an unprecedented environment, and they have no direct comparison in being able to plan. It makes their job very, very difficult.

They’re telling us to pull our number down by 4 cents (per share).

Clearly they’re the leading broad-line retailer right now. They’re going to exit this environment with tremendous market share gain, and hopefully they’ll be able to translate sales momentum into robust earnings momentum.

I think high-end retail sales will get a boost from this news.

Clearly the last 10 days before Christmas were very strong and allowed retailers to achieve their sales plans for the month despite the lack of aggressive promotions we saw in 2002.

You tend to mark down stuff when you’re stuck,

Wal-Mart’s cautious comments are warranted, … Even though its problems are not company-specific, it does bode badly for the profits and sales across the retail chain in the back half of the year.

Wal-Mart and Target continue to prove that they can operate well in this challenging retail environment and deliver profits despite modest to weak sales results.

We believe that consumers are going to be reluctant to visit shopping malls due to their being a population center and a potential terrorist target. We think some of the department stores in urban centers,...

Wal-Mart has made it very clear that the prospects for this holiday are much stronger than the conventional wisdom would have had it.

We knew Sears was going to have some rough sledding ahead but what’s obvious now is that it’s going to be a lot rougher than anticipated,

Other retailers took advantage of that.

In the game of chicken between retailers and consumers, with one looking to improve profit margins and the other holding out for discounts, it would appear that the consumer blinked. The initial read on the...

I really would be surprised if they filed. The part of the equation that is missing in a typical bankruptcy situation is that vendors are not clamping down on them. Vendors are not limiting the...

We have always been skeptical of their reverting back to their blue light roots in the stores and on the Web, … Instead of emphasizing every-day low prices, it appears to emphasize one-time grab-bag bargains,...

The same issues which are depressing the consumer confidence numbers are going to depress holiday sales, … Christmas is going to show up this year as it shows up every year. The question is, how...

As we get through the season, department stores are going to be brutal in throwing merchandise back to vendors.

The low energy prices are more beneficial than any tax break, particularly for discount shoppers.

We knew today was going to be a disaster. What surprises us was how bad it was was.

Alternatively, the offer could generate additional interest from outside parties, like private equity companies, thus driving Sears Canada’s shares.

Any retailer who could not surpass expectations last month has to have company-specific problems. September was simply a stellar month.

Given the severity of the storm, we expect that stores in the affected areas could lose up to two days of sales as roads were nearly impossible to navigate.

Wal-Mart’s management is rather conservative, but it sounds upbeat about the future. I’m very confident that if the economy improves, the company could surpass its own guidance for the rest of the year.

The stock is manipulated by perceptions of the future, and investors are very concerned right now that the economy is weaker than we thought. Wal-Mart is doing a superb job. On other the hand, the...

It would be considered a non-operating item and really will have a very limited financial impact as far as analysts are concerned,