The in-the-money July 22 puts, which were trading down two cents on the day, were home to open interest of 275 contracts. JCP did not announce significant news yesterday, but at least one investor could be betting that the stock has more room to rally. The investor needs JCP shares to expire higher than $21.60 come July expiration to make money - the stock does not necessarily need to rally, it just needs to hold around its current levels. JCP stock has rallied 85% since reaching a 52-week low of $14.18 on March 9.
Looking at the July 29 calls in Coach (NYSE: COH), an investor sold 1,500 of these calls for 45 cents with the stock up 31 cents on the day to $26.55. We also saw call sellers in the July 30 calls, which were trading down five cents. The in-the-money July 30 calls were home to open interest of 1,972 contracts. It’s interesting that COH shares were up on a down market day, but an analyst from Lazard Capital raised his expectation of the company’s new “Poppy” collection because of a boost in media and customer buzz before it launches this Friday. Despite this rally, we saw at least one bearish investor betting that COH shares could drop below $30 in the next month.
We noticed some premium selling in retail stocks yesterday, as investors could be anticipating a pullback in names like COH. Other potentially bullish investors could be betting that stocks like JCP and ANF have downside limits in sight, at least for the next month. ONN.tv has remained bearish on the retail sector, but it’s interesting that some investors are betting that these stocks will not give back some of their gains in the near future.
Quick, call in more shirtless male models! Desperate times may be calling for desperate measures at Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF). Today, the retailer reported that same-store sales fell 28 percent in May, worse than the dismal 24 percent drop that analysts had expected. This comes as a blow to the retailer, which, in a recent change-of-heart, began deeply discounting its offerings in May. Meanwhile, one of Abercrombie's biggest competitors, the more affordable and less sexy Aeropostale (ARO) posted a 19 percent surge in sales. So, Abercrombie can't use the excuse that teens aren't going to the mall. They are—they're just spending their allowance elsewhere.
The real test for both stores, analysts say, will be the pre-September back-to-school rush. If the economic environment does not improve, Aeropostale and other reasonably priced stores are likely to keep up the momentum and continue to steal market share from their once-cooler rival. But Abercrombie could still surprise us as its new discounting strategy unfolds. If it's enough to win back cost-conscious customers, the retailer might still have a dog or, um, a moose in the fight.
Among the premarket stories for Thursday, June 18, from AP Financial News:
NEW YORK (AP) -- Abercrombie & Fitch Co. could post better earnings in 2011, propelled by lean inventory, deals on rent, better merchandise and lower prices, an analyst said, upgrading the stock.
NEW YORK (AP) -- The9 Ltd. was downgraded Thursday by an Oppenheimer analyst, who predicted several quarters of operating losses after the company lost its license to operate "World of Warcraft," the popular online video game.
NEW YORK (AP) -- Market confusion over Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd.'s new City of Dreams casino in Macau provides a buying opportunity, a Deutsche Bank North American analyst said Thursday as she upgraded the company to "Buy" from "Hold."
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As part of its strategic relationship with Oracle, Abercrombie & Fitch has implemented Oracle Retail merchandising and stores applications to support its international expansion plans and long-term growth strategy. The Oracle Retail merchandising and stores applications are being rolled out across all of the leading fashion retailer’s brands including Abercrombie & Fitch, abercrombie, Hollister, RUEHL and Gilly Hicks.
To support its international expansion strategy, the retailer has adopted a centralised business model and is deploying a single instance of the Oracle Retail Merchandising System across the globe. As part of this effort, Abercrombie & Fitch implemented Oracle Fusion Middleware SOA suite components including the Oracle BPEL Process Manager to orchestrate the data exchanges between the Oracle merchandising environment, its legacy systems and other new systems.
Abercrombie & Fitch has realised immediate value from the Oracle Retail Merchandising System as a result of better data integrity, more efficient and accurate entry and ease of maintenance around the purchase order process. Abercrombie & Fitch is also implementing Oracle Retail Point-of-Service, Oracle Retail Central Office and Oracle’s PeopleSoft Enterprise Time & Labor across all of its brands to help maximise store profitability as well as to provide the scalable and flexible architecture needed to support the growing demands of the business.
Oracle Retail Point-of-Service is currently live in more than 20 stores and the retailer is rolling it out in all new stores opened across the globe this year. Abercrombie & Fitch expects the Oracle Retail stores application to be deployed at all store locations by the end of next year.Abercrombie & Fitch’s implementation of Oracle Retail Point-of-Service includes an on-screen keyboard and a streamlined user experience to support the retailer’s distinctive in-store experience. The retailer is currently in phase two of its merchandising and stores implementation. This phase will be live in the Fall of 2009 to support the international opening of stores in Milan and Tokyo. The Oracle Retail applications are being implemented and managed on Oracle Enterprise Linux to help provide a more flexible, reliable, and cost effective solution. The retailer has also standardised on Oracle Database 11g.
“There is no question that our strategic relationship with Oracle Retail is delivering meaningful value to our business and will take on an increasingly important role as we move forward with our strategy and key growth initiatives,” said Kristen Blum, Senior Vice President and CIO, Abercrombie & Fitch. “Oracle Retail not only provides us with industry-leading, best practice applications and technology, but they have partnered with us across the board to get maximum value out of the systems as we aggressively drive our business strategy.”
“Fashion is a fast-paced, challenging retail segment, and smart retailers like Abercrombie & Fitch recognise that the effective use of technology can help them better connect with their customers and create long-term competitive advantage,” said Duncan Angove, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Oracle Retail. “Abercrombie & Fitch have examined their business and strengthened their competitive position, and they will be well positioned to succeed and thrive as the retail industry overall returns to its dynamic nature.”
Oracle is a provider of innovative and comprehensive industry software solutions for retailers -- enabling organisations to serve their customers better by applying insight into daily business decisions for more profitable results. With software that provides supply chain, operations, merchandising, store systems, optimisation as well as enterprise applications and infrastructure software, Oracle partners with the world's leading retail companies, including 20 of the 20 top retailers worldwide, to transform the economics of their businesses.
Abercrombie Kids (marketed as "abercrombie" or "abercrombie kids") is a American lifestyle brand from Abercrombie & Fitch Co. This brand is the kid's version of the popular Abercrombie & Fitch, with a "classic cool" theme targeted towards elementary/middle school individuals aged 7 through 14. Abercrombie kids offers apparel designed after the A&F "Casual Luxury" apparel but with smaller sizes and cheaper prices. Goods are sold in stores and at their website
Abercrombie & Fitch introduced abercrombie in 1997 with 9 stores. The purpose was to attract a younger audience to the American Abercrombie brand. The name of the concept took the same font of its parent, but with a navy color. The abbreviation from "
Abercrombie & Fitch" to "abercrombie" with lowercase letters was intended to provide a children's image. The store prototype was as the A&F one, but with variations also intended to appeal to the younger audience. Early abercrombie models include Ronnie Smith, Cassie Ventura, Christina Akatsuka, Christian Valentin, and Lindsay Lohan.
