Finance & Capital Management

The former chairman and CEO of Home Depot is joining the board of directors at Pep Boys.

Robert Nardelli, the former chairman and CEO of Home Depot and Chrysler, has been appointed to Pep Boys’ board of directors, bringing the current size of the board to nine directors.

Chairman of the board, Robert Hotz, said: “We are pleased to have Bob join our board and welcome his extensive operating expertise and insight.”

New York -- Target Corp. plans to cut “several thousand” jobs, mainly at headquarters, during the next two years and invest $1 billion in technology and supply chain in 2015 as part of an ambitious and wide-reaching plan to transform its business for a digital age. (Target expects to invest between $2 and $2.2 billion in total capital expenditures in 2015.)
 

Chicago -- Expect another busy year of retail mergers and acquisitions, according to an annual survey of retail CFO’s by BDO USA. In the most bullish forecast for deal flow in the survey’s nine-year history, 16% of surveyed retail CFOs cite M&A activity as the growth tactic they are most heavily focused on for 2015, up from just 3% in 2014. Seventy-three percent of the CFOs expect the activity will take place primarily in the United States, and 15% expect Asia to see the most activity.

Minneapolis – Christopher Askew, president of Best Buy services, is reportedly leaving the company. According to the Wall Street Journal, Askew is leaving his post overseeing Best Buy’s Geek Squad technology services offering less than two years after he was hired from NCR Corp.

An internal company memo indicates CEO Hubert Joly will oversee the services organization on an interim basis. Best Buy confirmed the memo. The retailer has been expanding its showroom floor space as services sales have been declining.
 

Hangzhou, China – Alibaba Group holdings Inc. is reportedly saying it did nothing wrong after the government of Taiwan ordered the Chinese e-commerce giant to leave the country by August 2015. According to Bloomberg, the Taiwan Investment Committee gave the order because it says Alibaba tried to skirt Taiwanese restrictions on mainland China-based companies doing business there by registering its local affiliate as a Singapore-based firm.

Pittsburgh – Strong omnichannel performance, as well as successful marketing and merchandising execution, helped Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc. deliver fourth quarter fiscal 2014 net income beyond previously issued guidance. Dick’s reported net income of $155.5 million, up 12% from $138.6 million a year earlier.

Dick’s plans to open 54 new stores during fiscal 2015, including 45 namesake stores and nine Field & Stream stores.

Houston – A dropping cost of sales helped Stage Stores Inc. boost net income 76% to $43.72 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014, up from $18.26 million the same quarter a year earlier. Net sales climbed 6% to $524.89 million from $492.54 million, and same-store sales rose 6.4%.

Stage Stores plans to close 10-20 stores and open two new stores during fiscal 2015.

Minneapolis – Strong sales of high-margin consumer electronics and TVs during the holiday season, as well as declining expenses, helped Best Buy Inc. beat Wall Street expectations for profit in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2015. The retailer on Tuesday reported that net income surged 77% to $519 million from $293 million in the year ago period.

Stage Stores' approach to operating department stores in small to mid-sized towns enabled the company to grow holiday season sales and profits faster than some of its big city rivals.

The company’s 853 departments stores, operating under the banners of Bealls, Goody’s, Palais Royal, Peebles and Stage, grew sales 6.6% to $525 million and profits from continuing operations increased 35% to $43.7 million during the fourth quarter ended Jan. 31. Same store sales increased 6.4% and the company’s e-commerce business grew 30%.

Slow and steady is winning the race at AutoZone where the company just notched its 34th consecutive quarter of double digit profit growth and has a stock pricing heading toward $700.

AutoZone’s sales in the company’s second quarter ended Feb. 14, increased 7.7% to slightly more than $2.1 billion and same store sales increased 3.6%. Net income increased 9.8% to $218 million with an aggressive stock buyback program enabling earnings per share to advance 15.6% to $6.51 cents from $5.63 the prior year and well ahead of analysts’ estimate of $6.38.