Budgets/Spending/Market Size

Cleveland -- Sherwin-Williams Co. reported Tuesday that net income for its fourth quarter increased to $72.9 million, compared with $65.3 million in the prior year.

Revenue rose to just under $1.9 billion, from $1.6 billion. Wall Street expected revenue of $1.78 billion.

DALLAS -- Tuesday Morning reported that net income for the quarter ended Dec. 31 was $17.3 million, compared with $18.5 million in the year-ago period.

Net sales decreased 3.6% to $279.3 million from $289.6 million. Same-store sales decreased 3.2%.

According to Kathleen Mason, president and CEO: "We anticipate that we will return to positive comparable sales for the remainder of the fiscal year.” Tuesday Morning reported four consecutive quarters of same-store sales growth prior to the second quarter.

LOS ANGELES — IBISWorld predicted Valentine's Day will boost retail sales in a new report.

The independent market and research firm said that consumers are expected to spend 5.8% more on Valentine’s Day purchases this year than last year, totaling $18.6 billion, or about $125 per person.

Big gains will be seen across all categories. Jewelry is expected to see an 11.3% boost, greeting cards and candy are projected to grow 4.9% and 5.1%, respectively, and clothing and lingerie should see a 3.4% rise.

Online sales soared to new heights this past holiday season even though major retailers had a tough time attracting traffic during December. For example, Target.com during December had 37.3 million unique visitors which sounds like a lot and was enough to earn it the 30th ranking on comScore’s top 50 Web properties report released this week.

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. -- HomeGoods reported that according its survey of how people live in their homes, 47% of Americans have not updated their home decor in the last five years and 9% haven't updated their decor in more than 10 years.  As for style, Americans say the overall look of their homes is traditional (44%), followed by modern (22%), eclectic (13%), country (10%) and global (2%).

AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands -- Ahold reported that net sales for its U.S. division increased 6% to $5.6 billion for the fourth quarter. Identical-store sales for the quarter increased 1.9%(0.9% excluding gasoline), and comparable sales were up 2.1%.

For the full year the company reported net sales of $23.5 billion increased b y  5.1% when compared to the adjusted full year 2009 sales. Identical sales were up 1.5% (0.4% excluding gasoline).

WASHINGTON — Retailers are ready to expand again, and likely will do so as the economy picks up, according to a new survey conducted by the charitable arm of the National Retail Federation and KPMG.

Dublin, Ohio -- Wendy's/Arby's Group said Thursday it plans to sell off its struggling Arby's quick-serve chain to focus on the Wendy's hamburger business.

The two fast-food chains were combined when Triarc Cos., Arby's parent, bought Wendy's for $2.2 billion in 2008 to create the third-largest publicly held fast-food chain.

Arby's generated about 30% of the company's sales in its third quarter.

At least one analyst feels the sale could bring in $400 million to $600 million.