Bad news, Amazon investors: The company’s stock, already down 10% from its late-July high, is likely to decline even further. That’s because of the behavior of Wall Street analysts, whose earnings revisions tend to come in waves. And the vast majority of those revisions recently have been to the downside. This represents a big shift from the situation that prevailed as recently as 12 months ago. In August of last year, for example, 69% of Wall Street analysts who track Amazon AMZN, -0.75% revised upward their estimates of the company’s future earnings per share. Just 17% of analysts issued downward revisions that month.
The bad news on Amazon’s stock price is only beginning - MarketWatch
Names like Tiffany & Co. (TIF) , Dollar Tree Inc. (DLTR) and Signet Jewelers (SIG) are all higher on the day, although some have been volatile. Specifically, though, Cramer took a closer look at Michaels Cos. (MIK) , which is off the highs of the day, but still up 13% Thursday. Beyond just topping earnings and revenue estimates, retailers need to be a part of three key themes to get their stocks moving higher, Cramer said. Those themes include having a good omni-channel, providing consumers with an experience, and having a perception of value to customers. Those are the three themes needed to hold off Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN)
The 3 Secrets to Defeating Amazon, Revealed - TheStreet
Wal-Mart shoppers will soon be able to link their Wal-Mart accounts to Google Express and order items through Google's voice-enabled technology. In its partnership with Google, Wal-Mart will boast the largest number of items currently offered by a retailer through the Express platform. The deals will start rolling out in September, but Wal-Mart's Marc Lore promises, "This is just the beginning."
Wal-Mart partners with Google to offer voice shopping via Google Home
I think, in the wake of Amazon Prime, we are still trying to figure out what to do with this group of companies that has so many sellers in it. Perhaps, as Target's positive pre-announcement might be signaling, we have gotten too negative on the group? It's a great test of the moment. More important, though, whenever I see an en masse sector decline like this, I always like to step back and see what the decline is really saying. First, what it's not saying. Nobody is saying that these companies are going out of business. Their cash flows are still pretty good, their sales, while not electric, aren't falling off a cliff. Second, nobody is saying that, at least right now, their dividends are suspect. I do believe that their buybacks are probably going slower and their spend for e-commerce is going faster, with much of it not producing anything other than cannibalization of bricks and mortar.
Amazon Prime Is Wreaking Havoc on Retail, Jim Cramer Explains - TheStreet
We see three factors driving performance for retail stocks. First is mall exposure. We believe the U.S. is very overstored with almost 24 square feet of retail space per person. That compares to 16 in Canada and 11 in Australia. This means the U.S. has more than double every other country except Canada. We think companies are only in the early stages of rightsizing the store base and fear that companies with large store bases could see shrinking square footage over the next several years.
3 Factors Driving Retail Stocks' Decline
The European grocery chain Lidl has arrived in the US, and bargain hunters should be excited. A recent price check on a basket of 20 items by Jefferies analysts found that Lidl was about 9% cheaper than Walmart, the largest grocer in the US. Lidl claims to offer products for as much as 50% less than rival stores. So far, Lidl has opened 10 stores along the East Coast and plans to open 80 by the middle of next year.
How Lidl keeps its prices down - Business Insider
Amazon.com Inc.’s recent bid to acquire Whole Foods Market Inc. inflamed concerns in the U.S. about big tech companies taking over America. In China, that’s already happening. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Tencent Holdings Ltd. are online-offline conglomerates each with hundreds of millions of users. The pair—directly or through companies they invest in—provides services and products across a range of businesses from retail, media and entertainment to health care, payment, banking, logistics and transportation.
To See What It Will Be Like When Amazon Owns Everything, Look at China - WSJ