Recession be damned, Americans appear determined to spend what
they can this holiday season.
MarketWatch
reports that the National Retail Federation survey indicated that
the number of shoppers jumped 8.7 percent over the four day holiday
weekend, and that average spending rose 6.4 percent.
Hopefully the rise in spending was done responsibly. The
recession should have taught many consumers the downfall of too
much leverage. If they have learned their lesson they won't
foolishly run up debt in the countdown to Hanukkah, Christmas or
Kwanza.
Now with the Black Friday kickoff to the shopping season in the
books, retailers have a better idea of what to expect for the rest
of the year.
And it appears that a little luxury is on many shopping lists.
According to the MasterCard Advisors' SpendingPulse survey, in the
first 18 days of November luxury goods sales were up 6.7 percent
and jewelry spending increased 8.1 percent over the same period
last year.
So far I haven't seen any jewelry stocks that truly interest me,
although I still like this
gold grading company that pays an 8.9 percent
dividend
.
The wealthy probably fared better than many others in this
latest recession, so I've been looking at where they shop to see if
I can find small cap stock bargains for investors.
***A stock that should interest value investors is
Dillard's (
DDS
),
a regional department store chain which shot up 53 percent in the
past three months. Dillard's pays a .5 percent dividend, and while
projected sales growth is pretty flat, earnings are growing. I
think the company still has room to grow, as this
Forbes blog
points out. Dillard's has a forward P/E of 14, indicating that
shares are more reasonably priced as compared to competitors.
Another stock I'm looking at is
Ann Taylor Stores (
ANN
),
which is predicting its fourth-quarter sales will approach $500
million. The women's apparel retailer also expects same-store sales
for the holiday quarter to grow between 5 and 9 percent. The stock,
trading in the mid-$20s, has a forward P/E of 17. Friedman,
Billings & Ramsey analysts just bumped up their 12-month price
target by $3, to $30 indicating that the stock has over 10 percent
upside.
Back on October 8, I wrote about
Buckle (
BKE
) in
Shopping for a Bargain in Premium Apparel
. The company sells premium denim, mostly to the teen market. The
stock is up nearly 25 percent since my article and with a forward
P/E of 14 still looks like a bargain.
I predicted that the company appeared to be in a position to pay
a special dividend like it did in 2009. That prediction was
accurate, and in fact Buckle will pay a $2.50 per share special
dividend on December 21. It's a well-run company that's still an
attractive play.
***Because of the large number of people I've heard from that
missed my Black Friday sale this weekend, I've decided to extend
the sale for
Small Cap Investor PRO
until tonight at 11:59 pm eastern time. This offer gives you
Small Cap Investor PRO
for 50 percent off the regular subscription price!
Just follow this link and you'll be ushered
through our system so you can start taking advantage of our small
cap stock research today - no lines, and no waiting.