Laurie Kulikowski

Abercrombie Forced to Apologize

twocents@thestreet.com (Laurie Kulikowski) — Thu, 23 May 2013 10:00 GMT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Pitted against consumer outrage over controversial comments its CEO made seven years ago about why the teen retailer doesn't make its clothing in large sizes, Abercrombie & Fitch issued an apology this week and pledged to take steps to show their commitment against bullying as well a more welcoming store culture.

The apology was in response to an online petition on Change.org that has garnered as of press time 70,000 signatures since May 8 calling for Abercrombie's CEO Mike Jeffries to apologize for comments made to Salon.com in 2006, but that recently resurfaced.

"We welcomed the opportunity to meet with Cali Linstrom, Benjamin O'Keefe, Darryl Roberts of America the Beautiful Teen Empowerment Series and Lynn Grefe, President & CEO of the National Eating Disorder Association to learn about the work they are doing. We look forward to continuing this dialogue and taking concrete steps to demonstrate our commitment to anti-bullying in addition to our ongoing support of diversity and inclusion," Abercrombie said. ...

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Saks Soars on Report Goldman Sachs Hired for Buyout (Update 2)

twocents@thestreet.com (Laurie Kulikowski) — Wed, 22 May 2013 17:47 GMT

This story has been update from yesterday with additional information.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) - Saks extended gains on Wednesday following reports that the luxury retailer has hired Goldman Sachs to explore a possible sale. A Bloomberg article is now suggesting that KKR is considering investing in the New York-based retailer in order to pursue a merger with Neiman Marcus.

Shares were surging 16% to $15.84. The stock jumped 5% on Tuesday after quarterly store sales exceeded analyst estimates. ...

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Target Lowers Full-Year Outlook, Shares Fall

twocents@thestreet.com (Laurie Kulikowski) — Wed, 22 May 2013 13:44 GMT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) - Target ticked lower Wednesday after the discount retailer reported disappointing earnings results and lowered its full-year guidance.

Shares were dropping 3.3% at the open to $68.90.

The Minneapolis-based company reported first-quarter profit of $498 million, or 77 cents per share. Revenue, which includes its U.S. and Canadian-based operations, fell 1% to $16.7 billion. Analysts were expecting 87 cents a share on revenue of $16.8 billion. ...

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Behind-the-Scenes at a Popcorn Company

twocents@thestreet.com (Laurie Kulikowski) — Wed, 22 May 2013 12:35 GMT

Popcorn Indiana is the largest independent popcorn brand that's making waves against big brand competitors. TheStreet's Laurie Kulikowski gets an exclusive tour of the fast-growing company's facility.

Veterans to Get More Small Business Loans

twocents@thestreet.com (Laurie Kulikowski) — Tue, 21 May 2013 18:03 GMT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) - Just in time for Memorial Day, the U.S. Small Business Administration Tuesday began a lending program that will involve 20 of the country's largest banking institutions.

Wells Fargo , JPMorgan Chase , U.S. Bancorp , TD Bank head the list. The aim is to increase lending to military veterans by 5% per year over the next five years.

Veterans looking to start a business following deployment face special challenges in raising capital, particularly as the recession has tightened borrowing through conventional bank loans. ...

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Best Buy Misses on Revenue

twocents@thestreet.com (Laurie Kulikowski) — Tue, 21 May 2013 13:08 GMT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Best Buy fell in pre-market trading as the electronics retailer reported adjusted quarterly earnings that came in above Wall Street's expectations, but missed on revenue estimates.

The Minneapolis-based company said diluted earnings per share from its continuing operations were 29 cents on net earnings attributable to shareholders of $97 million. Revenue fell roughly 10% to $9.38 billion. Including its discontinued operations, the company reported a net loss of $81 million, on a loss of 24 cents a share.

Domestic comparable store sales fell 1.1% compared to the prior-year's quarter. ...

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Urban Outfitters Drops on Lower-than-Expected Sales

twocents@thestreet.com (Laurie Kulikowski) — Mon, 20 May 2013 21:07 GMT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) - Urban Outfitters , owner of Anthropologie, Free People and its name brand, fell in after-hours trading as sales growth fell short of analyst expectations.

Shares were falling 3.1% in after market trading after closing Monday at $44.49 per share.

The Philadelphia-based specialty retailer said revenue rose 14% for the three months ended April 30 to a record $648.1 million, less than an average forecast of $655.1 million, according to according to Yahoo! Finance. Profit jumped 39% to $47 million compared to the same period a year ago while earnings per share adjusted for some items totaled 32 cents for the quarter, beating the forecast of 29 cents per share. ...

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5 Things To Know About Small Business This Week: May 17

twocents@thestreet.com (Laurie Kulikowski) — Fri, 17 May 2013 20:04 GMT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) - Mobile cash registers, a sobering view of small business, Kabbage financing and more fun website from GoDaddy lead our list of small business happenings this week.

1. Is it the death of the cash register? PayPal announces "Cash for Registers." Starting next month, eBay's PayPal will start a new program called "Cash for Registers."

The program will offer free credit, debit card, check and PayPal processing for the remainder of the year to "qualifying" U.S small businesses that essentially "turn in their cash registers" in favor of mobile solutions like PayPal Here, which includes an Apple iPad, card reader, iPad stand, cash drawer, and printer. ...

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Investors Shun J.C. Penney Shares

twocents@thestreet.com (Laurie Kulikowski) — Fri, 17 May 2013 15:12 GMT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Investors shunned J.C. Penney's stock Friday following dismal earnings results and concerns over whether the company can regain the traction it lost even with the return of its former CEO.

Shares were dropping 3.2% to $18.19 at last check on Friday.

The stocks of Wal-Mart Stores and Kohl's , were also slipping a day after both retailers reported first-quarter earnings that fell 0.9% and 0.3%, respectively. Shares of Sears and Target were each in the green on Friday. ...

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JCPenney Reports Loss, Tumbles After-Market

twocents@thestreet.com (Laurie Kulikowski) — Thu, 16 May 2013 21:51 GMT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) - JC Penney was falling in after-hours trading Thursday after reporting a first-quarter loss of $348 million, or $1.58 per share.

Net loss for the quarter totaled $289 million, or $1.31 a share when adjusted for charges related to the retailer's restructuring and management transition. Plano, Texas-based JC Penney said restructuring charges were $72 million.

The stock was tumbling 2.9% in after-hours trading after closing at $18.79. ...

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Walmart Misses, Kohl's Beats, Stocks React

twocents@thestreet.com (Laurie Kulikowski) — Thu, 16 May 2013 14:52 GMT

New information has been added to this story.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) - The stocks of two big department stores, Wal-Mart Stores and Kohl's performed vastly different on Thursday, despite both retailers reporting earnings results that missed revenue expectations.

Shares of Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, stumbled after it reported that sales in its U.S. stores fell, even with a more positive outlook for the second quarter. The stock was trading down 2.1% to $78.20 in trading Thursday. ...

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Abercrombie's Jeffries Provokes Even as Investors Cheer

twocents@thestreet.com (Laurie Kulikowski) — Wed, 15 May 2013 21:11 GMT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) - Teen retailer Abercrombie & Fitch delights in provocative advertising which might explain CEO Mike Jeffries' comments about the company's unwillingness to carry larger sizes.

Jeffries has pointedly said that Abercrombie targets "the attractive all-American kid with a great attitude and has a lot of friends. A lot of people don't belong in our clothes and they can't belong. Are we exclusionary? Absolutely."

While Jeffries' comments aren't new, social media has been abuzz this week commenting on a blog post by marketing executive Amy Taylor entitled An Open Letter From a "Fat Chick" to Mike Jeffries, CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch. ...

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Macy's Shares Surge on Earnings Beat

twocents@thestreet.com (Laurie Kulikowski) — Wed, 15 May 2013 15:06 GMT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Macy's shares were rising Wednesday on strong volume after the department store kicked off first-quarter earnings reports with better-than-expected earnings and announced a dividend increase.

The Cincinnati-based company said net income was $217 million for the 13-week quarter, or 55 cents per diluted share versus $181 million, or 43 cents in the same period last year. Analysts on average expected Macy's to post quarterly earnings of 53 cents a share.

First-quarter sales for the period totaled $6.39 billion, up 4% from the same period last year. Comparable stores sales, which includes stores open at least one year as well as e-commerce sales form Macys.com and Bloomingdales.com, rose by 3.8% from the first quarter last year, Macy's said. ...

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Kabbage Expands Small-Business Financing

twocents@thestreet.com (Laurie Kulikowski) — Tue, 14 May 2013 17:22 GMT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Small-business financing outfit Kabbage, which made its mark by focusing exclusively on funding small e-commerce merchants that sell through Amazon , eBay , Yahoo! and Etsy, among others, is expanding its reach to fund both online and offline small businesses.

The company announced a partnership with Intuit to use QuickBooks data to instantly approve and extend funding, it said Tuesday.

It is a significant expansion for the two-year-old Atlanta startup, which has offered approximately $85 million in short-term financing through more than 70,000 advances to e-commerce businesses since its launch in August 2011. In 2013, it plans to make over 100,000 advances. ...

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Analyst Says Buy Urban Outfitters

twocents@thestreet.com (Laurie Kulikowski) — Mon, 13 May 2013 20:01 GMT

Urban Outfitters stands out from the crowded retail pack, says Gabriella Santaniello of Wedbush Securities.

Retail Stocks Mixed Despite Better-than-Expected April Sales (Update 1)

twocents@thestreet.com (Laurie Kulikowski) — Mon, 13 May 2013 16:28 GMT

New information has been added to the story.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) - Retail stocks were mixed on Monday, despite a positive report from the government on April retail sales.

U.S. food and retail sales rose 0.1% in April compared to March, to $419 billion, according to the latest Commerce Department figures released on Monday. Economists were expecting sales for the retail sector to fall 0.3% for the month of March, according to Thomson Reuters. ...

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Retailers to Post Sluggish Earnings After Long Winter

twocents@thestreet.com (Laurie Kulikowski) — Mon, 13 May 2013 11:00 GMT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) - Retailers are blaming extended cold weather this past winter for a decline in first-quarter sales, which will be reflected in companies' quarterly earnings, the bulk of which will be announced in the following two weeks.

Large department stores and discount retailers including Macy's , Wal-Mart Stores , JC Penney , Kohl's and Nordstrom report later this the week. Best Buy , Target , Sears reporting next week.

According to the Thomson Reuters Quarterly Same Store Sales Index of 78 retailers, same-store sales are expected to show a paltry 0.8% growth for the first quarter compared with 3.4% growth in the same period a year ago. Excluding Walmart, growth is expected to be 1% compared to 3.7% for the first quarter of 2012. ...

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5 Things to Know About Small Business This Week: May 10

twocents@thestreet.com (Laurie Kulikowski) — Fri, 10 May 2013 15:02 GMT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- What happened in small business this week?

1. Senate passes Internet sales tax legislation; could get held up in the House. Sales tax collected by online merchants just got one step closer to becoming a reality this week after the Senate passed legislation that is supposed to "level the playing field" between bricks-and-mortar and e-commerce retailers. The Marketplace Fairness Act still needs to pass the House, which observers say could be a challenge as some Republicans view the measure as a tax increase, according to Marketwatch.

While bricks-and-mortar retailers, yes, even small businesses, can be pleased with the bill's traction, opponents say that the tax requirements will be burdensome on growing online small merchants, according to CNBC . ...

5 Mother's Day Gift Ideas for Moms of All Ages

twocents@thestreet.com (Laurie Kulikowski) — Fri, 10 May 2013 13:56 GMT

This story has been updated with additional information.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) - Can't figure out what to get Mom for Mother's Day? We've come up with five gift ideas sure to make Mom feel special.

Consumers are expected to spend more than $20 billion on gifts this year to pamper Mom. Traditional items like flowers, clothing and gift cards are always popular, but this year, consumers will be stretching their budget just a little bit further to splurge on things like tablets, smartphones and jewelry for the moms, grandmas, daughters and sisters in their lives. ...

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These 4 Companies LOVE Wedding Season

twocents@thestreet.com (Laurie Kulikowski) — Fri, 10 May 2013 11:00 GMT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Springtime means the official start of wedding season, that glorious spell extending roughly from April to October when beaming brides-to-be get a shine in their eye for all things wedding-related.

Market research specialist IBISWorld puts the size of the wedding industry and related services at a whopping $50.6 billion. As consumers expand their disposable incomes again, the wedding industry is expected to grow by 2.3% over the next five years, IBISWorld forecasts.

From dresses to engagement rings, to household registries and honeymoon vacations, this means big business for the companies that cater to this industry, fostered by shows like Say Yes to the Dress on Discovery Communications' TLC channel and Pinterest wedding boards (a growing number of single females are even creating "secret" boards dedicated to weddings and baby). ...

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Mother's Day: War of the Roses

twocents@thestreet.com (Laurie Kulikowski and Debra Borchardt ) — Thu, 09 May 2013 17:04 GMT

Consumers will spend $17 billion on Mother's Day gifts, the biggest percentage on flowers. Which online florist will win?

Ann Taylor Gains as May Sales Improves Outlook

twocents@thestreet.com (Laurie Kulikowski) — Thu, 09 May 2013 15:31 GMT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) - Shares of Ann Inc. were climbing more than 4% on a positive outlook for May sales despite weaker-than-expected first quarter sales from the women's apparel retailer.

The New York-based company said in an announcement on Thursday that based on preliminary results total company net sales will be $575 million for the quarter as opposed to the $600 million it had previously disclosed.

"Looking ahead to fiscal second quarter we believe the company is heading into a solid position in better aligning inventory relative to demand by channel and this could provide further stability if not outright upside. Buy ANN shares," Piper Jaffray analysts Neely Tamminga and Alex Fuhrman wrote in a note Thursday. ...

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Whole Foods Hits 52-Week-High on Better-Than-Expected Earnings

twocents@thestreet.com (Laurie Kulikowski) — Wed, 08 May 2013 14:34 GMT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Whole Foods Market hit a new 52-week-high on Wednesday following better-than-expected second-quarter earnings and a two-for-one stock split announced the night before.

At last check, Whole Foods shares were up 10.1% to $102.24. Shares last hit a 52-week-high of $101.86 on Oct. 5, 2012. Trading volume on Wednesday -- less than an hour after the markets opened -- had already surpassed the stock's average three-month trading volume of 2.4 million shares.

The Austin, Texas-based company said after the markets closed on Tuesday that for its fiscal second quarter, which ended on April 14, 2013, sales rose 13.3% to $3.03 billion, meeting analysts' expectations. Whole Foods' comparable store sales rose 6.9%, it said. ...

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Whole Foods Earnings Surprise Wall Street

twocents@thestreet.com (Laurie Kulikowski) — Tue, 07 May 2013 21:21 GMT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Whole Foods Market surged in after-market trading after the specialty supermarket surprised Wall Street by beating analysts' quarterly earnings estimates. It also announced a two-for-one stock split.

The Austin, Texas-based company said that for its fiscal second quarter, which ended on April 14, sales rose 13.3% to $3.03 billion, meeting analysts' expectations.

The supermarket reported to the upside with regard to its bottom line. Whole Foods reported quarterly net income of $142 million, or 76 cents a diluted share. Earnings per share rose 19% compared to the prior year's quarter. ...

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JCPenney Discloses Wider Decline For First-Quarter Sales

twocents@thestreet.com (Laurie Kulikowski) — Tue, 07 May 2013 20:47 GMT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- First-quarter sales at JCPenney suffered a wider decline than analysts were expecting, according to preliminary financial results released by the department store after Tuesday's market close.

The Plano, Texas-based company said for its fiscal first quarter, which ended on Saturday, total sales dropped by 16.4% over the prior year, to $2.64 billion.

Analysts on average, according to Thomson Reuters, expected sales to fall 13% to $2.74 billion for the quarter. ...

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Google Looks to Profit From Alternative Lending

twocents@thestreet.com (Laurie Kulikowski) — Tue, 07 May 2013 16:56 GMT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Two recent events underscore Google's goal to profit from alternative lending.

Google Ventures, the $300 million venture capital fund designated specifically for investments in start-ups, led a $17 million expanded Series D financing round for On Deck Capital, a six-year-old online small-business lender that's growing rapidly.

Tech venture capitalist Peter Thiel, co-founder of eBay's PayPal and VC firm Industry Ventures, also participated in the expanded round, On Deck noted in a May 1 release. ...

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5 Things To Know About Small Business This Week: May 3

twocents@thestreet.com (Laurie Kulikowski) — Fri, 03 May 2013 16:51 GMT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -What happened in small business this week?

This week in small business is all about jobs and financing.

1. April jobs numbers surprise to the upside but are small businesses hiring? The U.S. workforce added 165,000 jobs in April, the Labor Department said Friday, as national unemployment fell to 7.5% from 7.6%. Payrolls were expected by economists to have risen by 145,000 jobs in April. ...

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Wal-Mart Seeks More Sales on Digital Platforms

twocents@thestreet.com (Laurie Kulikowski) — Wed, 01 May 2013 20:39 GMT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Wal-Mart Stores is betting that online sales will fuel the next wave of significant growth for the world's largest retailer as it more directly competes against Amazon and Google .

"E-commerce is the next growth engine for Walmart," Neil Ashe, president and CEO of Walmart's global e-commerce division, said Wednesday at a New York investor conference. "We view this as an opportunity for us to grow pretty dramatically." Also see: 3 Alternatives for People Sick of Banks

Emphasizing the company's plans to grow its digital sales, Ashe spoke at Barclays' Retail and Consumer Discretionary Conference in New York City. ...

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Cinco de Mayo Is Hot

twocents@thestreet.com (Laurie Kulikowski and Debra Borchardt ) — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 16:42 GMT

Cinco de Mayo is big business for tequila, snacks and restaurants. TheStreet investigates at Mad Dog & Beans in NYC.

Best Buy Surges on Exit from European Joint Venture (Update 1)

twocents@thestreet.com (Laurie Kulikowski) — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 14:55 GMT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) - Best Buy shares surged to a 52-week-high on Tuesday as the company said it sold its stake in a five-year-old European joint venture with London-listed Carphone Warehouse Group in a deal valued at $775 million.

The stock closed up 7.5% to $25.98. More than 22 million shares were traded on Tuesday, almost double the normal daily trading volume. Earlier in the day, the stock briefly hit a new 52-week-high of $26.92.

The Richfield, Minn.-based electronics retailer entered into an agreement on Monday that provides for the sale of the 50% interest held by the company in Best Buy Europe, its joint venture with Carphone Warehouse, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing today. ...

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