JoS. A. Bank Clothiers Earns $3.08 Per Share
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on March 30th, 2011 at 8:16 am

JoS. A. Bank Clothiers ($JOSB) just reported its 2010 earnings-per-share of $3.08. Through their first three quarters, JOSB earned $1.61 per share. That means that Q4 earnings were $1.47 per share which was four cents more than Wall Street’s consensus.

JoS. A. Bank Clothiers, Inc. announces today record results for its fiscal year ended January 29, 2011 (“fiscal year 2010”).

Net income for fiscal year 2010 increased 21% to a record $85.8 million, as compared with net income of $71.2 million for the fiscal year ended January 30, 2010 (“fiscal year 2009”). Earnings per share for fiscal year 2010 increased 20% to $3.08 as compared with earnings per share of $2.56 for fiscal year 2009.

Net sales reached a record of $858.1 million in fiscal year 2010, representing an 11.4% gain as compared with net sales of $770.3 million in fiscal year 2009. Comparable store sales increased 7.0% during fiscal year 2010, while Direct Marketing sales increased 24.4%.

“2010 was another very successful year for the Company,” commented R. Neal Black, President and CEO of JoS. A. Bank Clothiers, Inc. “We realized double digit sales growth again through strong comparable store sales and Direct Marketing sales, combined with the sales contribution from the 36 new stores we added during the year. Additionally, we generated net income growth of 21% as we continued to gain leverage, primarily through margin expansion and expense control. Our cash from operating activities grew 25% and our financial position remains very strong. Once again, we ended the year with no debt. With this quarter’s results, we have achieved earnings growth in 37 of the past 38 quarters when compared to the respective prior year periods, including 19 quarters in a row,” continued Mr. Black.

Morning News: March 30, 2011
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on March 30th, 2011 at 7:04 am

G-20 Criticism of Fed Easing May Be Muted at China Meeting

Irish Stress Tests May Leave Government in Control of Banks

Japan Finance Minister Igarashi: Doesn’t Make Sense For Dollar To Fall Vs. Yen Now

Portuguese 5-Year Yields Reach Euro-Era High on Bailout Concern

Global Crises Cause Turbulent Times for Airlines

U.S. Stocks Rise Despite Drop In Confidence Data; DJIA Up 31

History Backs Bernanke Betting Volatility Variable Won’t Hurt

Fed Presidents Say Economy Still Needs Support From Bond Purchase Program

U.S. Housing Prices Fell Again in January

Foreclosure Aid Fell Short, and Is Fading

Valeant Makes $5.7 Billion Hostile Bid for Cephalon

China’s AgriBank Shares Climb as Fourth-Quarter Profit Growth Accelerates to 83%

Tokyo Electric Says $24 Billion Loans Not Enough

Leigh Drogen: Since No One Else Feels Like Running Product At Twitter

Joshua Brown: How Would You Save RIMM?

Staten Island Man Set Pregnant Ex-girlfriend’s Apartment Ablaze in Bizarre Fecal Rampage, Cops Allege

Haliburton Under Bush and Obama
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on March 29th, 2011 at 3:48 pm

Here’s how Haliburton ($HAL) performed during the administration of George W. Bush:

And here’s how it performed since Barack Obama become president:

The stock is at another new 52-week high today.

Sprint Nextel Is a Financial Black Hole
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on March 29th, 2011 at 1:31 pm

Check out some of these numbers on Sprint Nextel ($S):

The company is a money-losing machine. Wall Street expects Sprint to lose another 80 cents per share this year and 59 cents per share next year.

Looking at the S&P 500’s Valuation
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on March 29th, 2011 at 12:44 pm

Thanks to the mini-pullback following the Japanese earthquake, the S&P 500 hit a closing low of 1,256.88 on March 16th, which is a P/E Ratio of 14.62.

In the chart below, the S&P 500 and its earnings are scaled at a ratio of 16-to-1 since 16 seems to be the best value for a long-term earnings multiple. We actually haven’t been as high as 16 since last May.

For 2010, the S&P 500’s earnings were $83.76 which was a 47% increase over 2009. For 2011, Wall Street’s current consensus is for earnings of $96.23. With a P/E Ratio of 16, that gives us a year-end possible target of 1,539.28. That’s a 17.5% rally from yesterday’s close.

So That’s What It Got Us
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on March 29th, 2011 at 12:10 pm

AP: March 29, 2011

Pentagon: Libya mission has cost US $550 Million so far

NYT: July 15, 2010

Goldman Pays $550 Million to Settle Fraud Case

The Yen’s Impact on the Stock Market
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on March 29th, 2011 at 10:17 am

Here’s a look at the yen’s impact on the stock market. More correctly, I should say this is a look at how the yen is correlated with the U.S. stock market.

I looked at all the daily market activity from 1989 through 2010 and then I annualized what the stock market did on days when the yen rose against the dollar and on days when it fell against the dollar. The results are below.

As you might expect, the movement of the currencies has the least impact on domestic-oriented sectors like staples and healthcare, but it has a big impact on areas like tech and finance.

Today’s Case-Shiller Index
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on March 29th, 2011 at 9:22 am

The latest Case-Shiller numbers came out this morning. This is a home-price index. There’s a bit of a lag in these numbers, so today’s report covers January.

The bottom line is that home prices aren’t doing much of anything. In fact, they’re backsliding some. Below are the seasonally-adjusted numbers for the Case-Shiller’s 10 City Index and for their 20 City Index. The 10-City numbers go back to 1987. Both indexes have declined for the last seven months in a row.

The 10-City Index is currently just 2.2% above its recent low from May 2009. The 20-City Index is less than 1% above its level from that same month.

Both indexes peaked in April 2006 and both are currently down 31% since then.

It’s odd, but I remember when folks thought the home price decline of the early 90s was severe. The chart shows us that this decline was nothing compared to what was going to happen.

Morning News: March 29, 2011
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on March 29th, 2011 at 7:12 am

In Brazil, No Room for Leverage at Buyout Firms

Crude Oil Trades Near One-Week Low in New York as Libyan Rebels Make Gains

Gold Drifts Lower In Subdued Asian Trade

Amber Waves to Ivory Bolls

U.S. Stock Futures Rebound; Halliburton Drops on Middle East

Fed’s Bullard Says QE2 Exit Debate Likely ‘Key’ 2011 Issue

One Sign That The Housing Bust Could End Soon

World Events Affect Your Mortgage Rate

Exemptive Relief Update: Russell Pulls Out, Janus Pledges Transparency

AT&T Outguns Sprint in Lobbying

EBay scores over Amazon, Acquires GSI for $2.4-billion

Hutchison Profit Beats Estimates on 3G Sales, Retail Chains

Paul Kedrosky: Calling a Top to the Tech Bubble: June 17, 2013 at 10:17 a.m. (EST)

Joshua Brown: Bernanke Represent

Howard Lindzon: Ebay and The Telephone are Cool Again…WTF!

New High for JOSB
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on March 28th, 2011 at 10:31 am

The stock market is up in early trading so far. It seems like a fairly quiet day on Wall Street. One of our Buy List stocks, Jos. A Bank Clothiers ($JOSB), is doing quite well and is at a new 52-week high. JOSB is a 20% winner for us on the year so far.

Reynolds American ($RAI) is also doing well; the stock came within three pennies of hitting a new 52-week high this morning. Even with the higher share price, RAI still yields 6.2%.

We had some decent economic news this morning. Consumer spending rose 0.7% last month which was an increase from 0.3% in January. Personal income rose by 0.3% so people are saving less.

It’s still early but the S&P 500 may close today at a three-week high.