Well, uh, nothing actually. Okay, not nothing. Some things- sure. There’s no perfect system. But the real problem is that what we actually have is less and less like real capitalism. Adam Smith’s invisible hand and Schumpeter’s idea of creative destruction have both taken it on the chin. Quantitative easing, low to negative interest rates, […]
I admit it. Before this deal, I’d never head of Kathmandu, a public company headquartered in New Zealand. If you haven’t either, you can visit their consumer facing web site or their investors web site where you can pour over all the deal related documents I’ve looked at. Mostly, though, I think you’re happy to […]
This is interesting. It seems to indicate that most retailers are being left behind. You might want to click through to Capgemini and sign up for some of their research. Anyway, here’s the link.
I never learned why SPY went public in the first place all those years ago. I imagine it was because a group of people who may not quite have understood the industry saw potential fast growth and a chance to make a lot of money. Those were different times. I have some experience with that […]
Zumiez had a great quarter ended August 3 (remember I don’t write until I have received and digested the 10-Q). They did it with sales that rose just 4.3% from $219.0 in last year’s quarter to $228.4 million in this year’s. But they also increased their gross margin from 33.1% in the same quarter last […]
Globe filed its annual report for the year ended June 30, 2019 pretty much concurrently with the announcement that it had sold Dwindle to Highline Industries Corporation. Skatewire reported that the purchase price was $1.5 million, but what the annual report says is that the carrying value of the assets was $1.5 million. I haven’t […]
It was July 22nd when Vail announced it had reached an agreement to purchase Peak Resorts for $11.00 a share or a total of $264 million. Peak Resorts, traded publicly under the symbol SKIS, closed at $5.19 on July 19. Hard to say “no” when somebody offers you more than double your stock price. Vail […]
In its conference call and 10Q filing for its May 4th quarter, Hibbett said some interesting things about what it’s doing. Let’s take a brief look at Hibbett and its numbers then talk about how Hibbett is trying to adjust to the changing retail world after its very late start. Hibbett describes itself as “…a […]
In 5,000 years of recorded history, there isn’t another known instance of negative interest rates. Now we’ve got about $13 trillion of securities with negative interest rates around the world. So far, that hasn’t happened in the United States, but don’t assume it won’t when we finally get a recession. Money is a commodity. It […]
A couple of years ago Zumiez stopped reporting comparable store sales changes and started reporting just comparable sales changes. That is, they no longer told us how their brick and mortar stores were doing in isolation from ecommerce. They were one of the leaders in making this change. Now, it’s how most retailers report. Their […]
