Data & Analytics

NEW YORK — The Motley Fool on Tuesday suggested all three national pureplay drug chains were in a better position today than five years and three years ago based on a metric called the “cash king margin.”

The metric teases out the amount of free cash flow a company actually can use to monetize shareholder value by paying dividends or buying back stocks. Companies that can create cash king margins (calculated by dividing free cash flow by sales) of more than 10% are the most attractive to investors, the Fool surmised.

Dallas -- Davaco said Tuesday it is preparing to roll out high-volume retrofits of interior and exterior restaurant menu boards in response to the FDA’s new nutrition/menu labeling program.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 requires restaurants and similar retail food establishments with 20 or more locations to list calorie content information for standard menu items on restaurant menus and menu boards.

Waltham, Mass. -- The Bon-Ton Stores has selected dynaTrace’s application performance management system to optimize the performance, scalability and stability of its recently implemented IBM e-commerce platform. The deployment comes at a time when the retailer’s online business is growing dramatically.

New York City -- Mobile technology ranked as the most important priority for retail in 2011, according to a recent online poll by Retail U. The respondents were asked to base their results on their key takeaways from the National Retail Federation’s 100th Annual Convention & Expo, in New York City.

Cleveland-based Sherwin-Williams reported fourth-quarter net income of $72.9 million, up 11.6% from $65.3 million reported for the same period last year.

Sales for the quarter ended Dec. 31 were $1.89 billion, up 18.8% from $1.59 billion reported for the same period in 2009.

For the full year, the company reported net income of $462.4 million, up 6.1% from $435.8 million for fiscal year 2009.

Sales for 2010 totaled $7.77 billion, up 9.5% from $ 7.09 billion reported last year.

Irving, Texas -- NEC Corp. of American announced that OXXO, the largest convenience store chain in Latin America, has selected NEC’s new point of sale hardware platform, TWINPOS 4500 as its standard.

With more than 8,000 stores strategically located throughout Mexico and Colombia, OXXO offers convenient services and products, 24-hour service in most areas and a fast and comfortable shopping experience.

New Canaan, Conn. -- The retail industry will grow by 5.1% in 2011, the strongest growth in four years, according to Customer Growth Partners’ 2011 Forecast and Outlook. The New Canaan, Conn.-based consulting and research firm projects that the industry will create over half a million new jobs in 2010, the most of any employment sector, and that retail sales will reach a record level of almost $2.9 trillion.

SECAUCUS, N.J. -- Panasonic announced the launch of the LUMIX FX78. This digital camera, which is part of the LUMIX FX series, features a new Smart Touch operation on the large 3.5-inch 16:9 aspect LCD, allowing for intuitive touch operation, including Touch AF, Touch Zoom, Touch Shutter and Touch Playback, the company reported. The LUMIX FX78 also incorporates a new LEICA DC VARIO-SUMMARIT, 24mm ultra-wide angle lens that has a 5x optical zoom with F2.5 aperture.