Normally, I prefer to wait for the actual quarterly filing to be available before doing this kind of analysis, but I trust you can all appreciate what a monumental waste of time it would be to really dig into Nike’s balance sheet. They’ve got $4.7 billion in cash and short term investments and $9.7 billion in […]
About a week ago, SIA published a really good article on why production costs in China are rising. If you haven’t read it you can, and should, here: http://www.snowsports.org/SuppliersServiceProviders/SIANewsletter/NewsletterDetail/Contentid/1272/#top. The article is pretty tactical in nature, and I thought a little bit of the longer term social and political perspective might be interesting to you.
SIA Article on the Rising Costs of Chinese Production Read More »
Quik is the poster child of a company that’s done what it needed to do following the twin blows of the Rossignol acquisition and the recession. As somebody who’s done a bit of turnaround work, I can tell you it’s no fun, for either management or employees, to be dealing with negative stuff month after month. Quik
Quiksilver’s July 31st Quarter: Sales Down, But Profits Up and Balance Sheet Stronger Read More »
In a rapid and rather remarkable convergence of four key trends, a lot is changing for core retailers and for retail in general. The accelerating push of large brands into retail, their reduced dependence on core shops, the decline in the number of true core shops, and the financial/management model required in our new economic
Initially, I was relieved. There was no conference call to listen to and try to take notes faster than they could talk. The press release was one page. The Appendix 4E was only 60 pages and the Investor Presentation power point didn’t really add anything to it. I thought I’d get off easy on this one. Turns out it’s
The Numbers In the quarter ended July 31st, Zumiez showed some improvement over the same quarter last year. Sales grew 14.7% from $85.2 million to $97.7 million. Comparable store sales were up 9.3% and 24 new stores (net of closings) have been opened since August 1, 2009. “The increase in comparable stores sales was primarily driven
Zumiez’s Quarter; Other Stuff is More Interesting than the Numbers Read More »
The chart below is something you need to see to have some medium to long term perspective on the economy and the job market. It comes under the heading of something you won’t see in the mainstream media. I have finally been doing this long enough to know that people don’t always like it when
A Medium to Long Term Perspective on the Job Market Read More »