Latest Articles
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Best Buy’s Gross Margin Impact on Holiday Promotions
Cyber Monday sales passed $1 billion for the first time this year and could point to higher sales going into this holiday season. However heavy discounting could impact gross profits margins and overall profitability limiting the benefits to sha...
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Wal-Mart’s Massmart Deal Could Secure Foothold in Africa
Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT), best known for its wide selection of merchandise at low prices, recently offered to buy 51% of Massmart Holdings Ltd. (Other OTC:MMRTY.PK) for 16.5 billion rand ($2.34 billion). Massmart Holdings Ltd. is a South-African based...
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Best Buy’s Cyber Monday Data Could Lift Outlook
As we break into the winter shopping season, early data is showing positive year-over-year (YOY) trends that could put retailers in the holiday spirit. A National Retail Federation survey quoted by The Wall Street Journal cited an 8.7% YOY jump i...
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Handhelds, Holiday Season to Drive Best Buy US Revenues
Best Buy’s (NYSE:BBY) revenue per square foot (RPSF) from US stores has started to pick up after declining in the past few years following a slowdown in comparable store sales in 2008 in light of a weak economy and lower-than-average perfor...
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iPhone’s Standalone Business Worth More Than All But 8 Companies in the World
The Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone is worth $209B of our estimated $391B value for Apple, which would make the iPhone one of the largest standalone companies in the world. We estimate that the iPhone accounts for 53% of Apple’s stock value a...
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Wal-Mart’s Online Push – Does it Make Sense?
Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT), which competes with other brick and mortar retailers like Costco (NASDAQ:COST), Target (NYSE:TGT) and Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) as well as online retailers like Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), is pushing for online sales ahead of the holiday...
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10% Upside to eBay from Higher Merchandise Listings
The number of merchandise listings on eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY), sites such as eBay.com, Half.com, and Shopping.com, has risen dramatically over the past few years from around 1 billion in 2003 to around 2.9 billion in 2009 [1] driven by increasing onli...
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10% Best Buy Upside from Higher Revenue per Square Foot
The revenue per square foot for Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) stores in the US has declined from an estimated $953 in 2006 to $905 in 2008, [1] partially driven by comparable store sales decline in 2008 and lower-than-average performance of new stores open...
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iPad Distribution Expands, Impact is Small for Apple’s Stock
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) has started to aggressively expand the iPad’s retail presence in time for the holiday season. The company has recently partnered with Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Target (NYSE:TGT) to sell the iPad. Furthermore, the iPad is avai...
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Retailers Team Up to Snatch Online Share from Amazon
Wall Street Journal recently ran a story on how many U.S. retailers are partnering to take on Amazon’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) leadership in the online retail market. Under the program called ShopRunner, the retailers will mimic the Amazon Prime prog...
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Best Buy Stock Close to its Intrinsic Value
Barron’s analyst Jonathan R. Laing recently issued a bullish forecast for Best Buy (NYSE:BBY). The consumer electronics retailer’s stock dipped around the middle of 2010 but has recovered in the past few weeks to a current level of ju...
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Lower eBay Take Rates Can Drive More Listings
eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) makes money by taking charging a commission (or “take rate”) on sold through its platform. The company’s transaction take rate has been stagnant in recent years due to more aggressive pricing to drive higher-...
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Wal-Mart’s US Store Count Expected to Rise
Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT), the pioneer of the big-box retail format, is seeing a steady rise in its number of US stores. The company’s store count has shown strong resistance despite the recessionary environment. Wal-Mart, known for its wide choi...
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Average Fees for Costco to Rise with More Executive Members
The average membership fee that Costco (NASDAQ:COST) charges its cardholders has risen from around $26 in 2006 to $28 in 2009 [1], driven by increasing penetration of executive members. The annual membership fee gives Costco members access to a w...
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Best Buy US Stores on the Rise
Despite the recessionary environment, Best Buy’s (NYSE:BBY) store count in the U.S. has increased significantly in the past, from around from 742 in 2005 to 1,069 in 2009 [1]. Going forward, we expect the growth in the number of US stores to cont...
