1 reply to this topic

[Curt]

A traders magazine article did the stats on usinng the first 10%/25% of earnings announcements and that being sufficient to predict the market price from the early announcements beating, missing estimates. Anyone use a site that tracks earnings? URL? Your opinion so far? Just my opinion: the lowered bar is still being hit by 50%, making in reality the earnings weak. JMO. My opinion on retail; Walmart/costco exceeding is actually telgraphing a very weak consumer as Macy's/Sears misses big. GLTA, curt

[Drano]

Just on an anecdotal basis, I have noticed in the past year that the number of well-dressed people shopping in CostCo has increased, and the number of expensive big-ticket items like TVs and computers that I see in people's shopping carts has decreased. It looks like more people are buying food and other necessities, not the big-ticket items. However one thing to take into account is that as gasoline prices have increased, more people are taking the trouble to buy it at CostCo and WMT's Sam's Club instead of their local gas station (because prices really are cheaper at the discount retailers). The gasoline sales ought to be significant enought to affect both COST and WMT bottom lines. In comparing the two stores, I'll go OFF TOPIC for a moment to say that CostCo carries a higher-quality line of goods than Sam's Club stores, and is one of the most ethical companies out there. They guarantee that their prices will never be more than 14% over their cost; they give most of their workers health insurance benefits (most part-time workers qualify for health insurance), and they cap their CEO's pay at a reasonable multiple of the average worker's salary. They are also paying workers who have been called up into active duty in the National Guard the difference in salary between what the Guard pays them and what they were earning at CostCo, and continuing health insurance benefits for their families. Comparing all that to the way Walmart treats its workers, you can probably understand why I will not darken the doors of a Walmart or Sam's Club. I'm still kicking myself that I did not buy COST stock when Wall Street was so down on it a while back.