Research Topic

Memphis -- Fred’s reported Thursday that net income for the quarter ended July 28 rose 19% to $6.1 million, compared with $5.1 million in the year-ago period.

Sales rose 4% to $470.8 million from $452.7 million, and same-store sales dipped 1%.

Profit results missed Wall Street expectations, and the discounter has lowered its full-year earnings forecast.


 

Walmart U.S. just reported its fourth consecutive quarter of positive same store sales growth. Now comes the hard part.

The current third quarter period marks the first time in three years that Walmart U.S. is up against a prior year increase in same store sales. As Walmart U.S. president and CEO Bill Simon reminded those listening to the company’s conference call last week, Walmart had a 1.3% comp increase in the third quarter of 2011 and this year he is expecting an increase in the range of 1% to 3%.

New York - Amazon.com, Trader Joe’s and Costco Wholesale Corp. came out on top with consumers in a survey by global strategy firm OC&C Strategy Consultants, Boston. Rounding out the top five were Zappos and iTunes.

New York -- Survey results unveiled Thursday by online coupon site RetailMeNot.com and Ipsos Public Affairs found that  an overwhelming number of consumers think the economy is in dire straits. As well, this pessimistic group is shoppers to adjust their holiday consumption behaviors and shop earlier this year.  

Specific findings of the report include:

Irving, Texas -- Michaels Stores Inc. reported that its net income rose 30% to $13 million for the quarter ended July 28, from $10 million in the year-ago period. The retailer said an increase in total transactions and custom framing helped boost second-quarter earnings for the arts and crafts retailer.

Total sales for the quarter ending July 28 rose 4.1% to  $892 million. Same-store sales increased 2.9%.

Michaels filed for an IPO in March.
 

Walmart saw its low price supremacy challenged this week by a Bloomberg report indicating Target had lower prices on a basket of 150 comparable items.

Palo Alto, Calif. -- A survey released Thursday by Apigee found that three out of five – or 57% – of mobile app users would consider purchasing their holiday gifts this year on a mobile device.

The 2012 Holiday Shopping survey revealed that the top items that would potentially be purchased via mobile are books (32%), electronics (31%), gift cards (27%), DVDs/Blue-ray discs (26%), clothing (24%) and toys (20%).

IRVING, Texas — Michaels Stores reported a second quarter same-store sales increase of 2.9% driven by a 3% increase in transactions and a positive impact of 0.9% from deferred custom framing revenue partially offset by a 1% decrease in average ticket.

Net sales for the quarter increased 4.1% to $892 million from $857 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2011.

Net income for the quarter increased 30% to $13 million, and as a percent of net sales increased 20 basis points to 1.4%.