CNS-comments from James Cramer of TSC
What do we do with this Consolidated Stores (CNS:NYSE) debacle? I would like to use this as a template about how we can do community to work for each other rather than just root for our faves or bash those who try to tell the truth, even if it is negative.
For those of you not following the trading, Consolidated is down 7 points today to 16. This is a real trashing. You may not know ConStores, but you might know its sub, KayBee Toys, from mall shopping. ConStores (as everyone knows it on Wall Street) is blaming slowing video game sales and higher shipping costs.
Here is my problem. As a father of an 8-year-old and a 5-year-old, I am constantly besieged by my kids' demands for GameBoy cartridges. (I hate Gameboy but it does help when we take trips somewhere. Still, it is the enemy of intelligence.) I go to Wal-Mart (WMT:NYSE) to buy them. I have seen no let-up whatever in sales of these. So Consolidated Stores' reasoning leaves me hollow. In fact, it makes no sense to me. And if the shipping costs are the problem, there is a whole lot of Net that has to be sold. I hadn't heard of this excuse, either.
Is ConStores blaming others for its own faults? Or are these legitimate reasons and I have just missed a couple of trends because of my own myopic approach? Am I being too anecdotal? What do you think? I would love it if Suzanne Kapner, TheStreet.com's fabulous retail reporter, weighed in, too. You can ask her -- I can't because of the Chinese wall between me and TheStreet.com. Let's make some money here as members of a community. Send your thoughts, along with your full name and a note about whether you have a position in the stock, to letters@thestreet.com.
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