At a time when most retail chains are closing down stores, the Fort Worth, Texas-based retailer is expanding its presence in Hawaii by opening its seventh store on Oahu, according to Pacific Business News.
Once it opens the new store, the Fort Worth, Texas-based retailer will have a total of four stores on Oahu with two in Kailua and Perl City. It also has a store on Mai and the Big Island and plans to open a store in Kauai later this year.
From a Penny Stock to the New York Stock Exchange
This is just the latest example proving that Pier 1 has come a long way from when it was just another struggling penny stock. But the reality is that it wasn’t too long ago when Pier1’s very existence was a big question mark.
The company’s stock value that had reached $25 in November 2003 tumbled to a meager 11 cents per share on March 13, 2009. Despite this, the company never filed for bankruptcy and an improving economy, housing market and a rising stock market have sent its stock surging to its old highs again.
Still, during the holiday selling season, Pier 1 did along with many other retailers did poorly. Its CEO Alex W. Smith blamed continued slow traffic caused by wintry weather for the pitiful 1.3% increase in same store sales for the five-week period ended Jan. 4, 2014, compared to the five-week period ended Jan. 5, 2013.
That’s why it’s increasingly critical that the 2014 housing recovery becomes the real deal.
So far, there are some good market indicators. Here are just three of them:
· Fannie Mae’s positive outlook for the 2014 housing market in a Jan. 13 statement by its Chief Economist Doug Duncan: “Despite the rise in mortgage rates since the spring, many housing indicators posted strong gains at the end of 2013 and consumer housing attitudes are strengthening, all of which bodes well for continued but measured housing recovery in 2014,” Duncan said in a written statement.
· New homes are staying on the market for an average of 3.1 months before being sold, far less time than the average 5.5-month average for the last 30 years.
· A recent report by Wash.-D.C. financial publisher Kiplinger is forecasting that new-home sales are likely to soar by a solid 15% or 500,000 in 2014.
E-Commerce Growth Anticipated and Needed
An increasingly stronger online presence could also help turbocharge Pier 1’s sluggish sales. The company witnessed the growing importance of its popular Web site Pier1.com when the ecommerce site ended up accounting for about 4% of the company’s total December sales.
The good news is that the outlook for online sales is much better than it was in 2013. In 2014, ecommerce sales will soar to nearly $250 billion, up from $155 billion in 2009, according to Cambridge-Mass research firm Forrester. Last year, online retail sales were up a healthy 11 percent, compared to 2.5 percent for all retail sales.
On Feb. 27, PIR’s share price closed at $20.06, up 7 cents from its close of $19.99 the previous day, on volume of 924,564 shares.
Find out what could be the best investor’s move when it comes to PIR by getting the complete report here, or by cutting and pasting the following link in your Web browser:
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BJ Reports Fourth Quarter and 12-Month Results for Fiscal 2013
On Feb 27, BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ: BJRI) stock volume surged, with 616,333 changing hands, significant higher than it three-month average volume of 556,447 shares.
The uptick could be a residual effect of the fair financial results the company reported on Feb. 19 for its fourth-quarter and full year ending Dec. 31, 2013.
Here’s the breakdown:
Fourth Quarter 2013 Highlights:
- Total revenues increased 8.1% to $199.8 million
- Total restaurant operating weeks increased 12%
- Six new restaurants opened
- Comparable restaurant sales decreased 2.7%
- Net income and diluted net income per share were $0.5 million and $0.02, respectively
- Excluding the net impact of $1.8 million of certain charges, or $0.04 diluted net income per share (described below), non-GAAP adjusted net income and non-GAAP adjusted diluted net income per share were $1.7 million and $0.06, respectively.
Results for fourth quarter 2013 include pre-tax charges totaling approximately $3.9 million, or $0.11 diluted net income per share, related to a non-cash impairment charge for one of our restaurants, a Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission settlement related to our beer model, the estimated cost to settle a California sales tax audit, and employee severance charges. These charges were partially offset by a tax benefit of approximately $2.1 million, or $0.07 diluted net income per share, resulting from lower than expected pre-tax earnings for the full year, and the above charges recorded in the fourth quarter.
Full-year 2013 Highlights:
- Total revenues increased 9.4% to $775.1 million
- Total restaurant operating weeks increased 12%
- 17 new restaurants opened
- Comparable restaurant sales decreased 1.1%
- Net income and diluted net income per share were $21.0 million and $0.73, respectively
On Feb. 27, BJRI's share price closed at $26.94, up 35cents from its closing price of $26.59 the previous day.
Find out what could be the best investor’s move when it comes to CNQR by getting the complete report here, or by cutting and pasting the following link in your Web browser:
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Concur Technologies Insider Selling
In other news, there has been some insider selling at Concur Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: CNQR) lately.
On Feb. 18, Concur’s Executive Vice President Elena Donio sold 2,000 shares of Concur Technologies stock for a total transaction of $257,560. The executive vice president still owns 41,666 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,365,747. The sale was disclosed in a SEC filing.
First Quarter Results
On Jan 29, the spending management solution company reported its fiscal 2014 results, which were positive.
The company reported total GAAP revenue for the first quarter of fiscal 2014 of $163.1 million. Excluding revenue from businesses that the company intends to divest, non-GAAP revenue for the first quarter of 2014 was $160.3 million, up 31% from the year-ago quarter and up 4% from the prior quarter. GAAP net loss attributable to Concur for the first quarter of fiscal 2014 was $24.2 million, or $0.43 per share. Fiscal 2014 first quarter non-GAAP pretax income was $12.4 million, or $0.21 per share.
"We kicked off fiscal 2014 with a strong first quarter in which we exceeded expectations for revenue, earnings, cash flow from operations and free cash flow. New customer growth remains very robust as more than 1,000 new customers joined the Concur family,” said Steve Singh, Chairman and CEO of Concur, in a written statement
But it wasn’t always this way.
Remember the tech bubble of 1999?
Concur, with a 52-week high of $114.32 at the time, crashed along with the market when its share price hit a bottom on Mar. 30, 2001 of 31 cents.
Overnight it became a penny stock, most investors totally wrote off.
If you have been one of the insightful ones, who invested just $1,000 into it when it hit its low, your $1,000 would have grown to $411,129 today.
Concur clawed its way back to the top because it had created and continued to improve a quality service that was in demand. Even when it was a penny stock, Concur’s basic value proposition remained solid.
Results speak loudly
In 2013, the company reported it had about 4,000 clients using its travel-and-expense management services that generated nearly $1 billion annual revenue. In a recent interview, Concur’s chief executive officer Rajeev Singh said the company is expanding its services to the consumer market.
On Feb 27, CNQR’s share price was 127.99, up 16 cents from its closing share price of $127.83 the previous day.
Find out what could be the best investor’s move when it comes to CNQR by getting the complete report here, or by cutting and pasting the following link in your Web browser:
http://www.sixfigurestockpicks.com/
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