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Strategies & Market Trends : Value Investing -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: upanddown who wrote (59975)	10/17/2017 7:34:55 PM
From: E_K_S	Respond to of 78465

RE: M and other GN positions As I build a position I usually make small Buys over then next 6-10 weeks and will look to establish a 1%-1.5% portfolio position. I like to make my buys in lots that are 5% lower from previous buys and/or every 5% price spread. Graham liked to do his Buy in one big purchase then would hold between 18-24 months. I look for a story and for M it is becoming a more efficient operator, increasing margins and also to stabilize and grow revenues. I like to listen to the conference call and see if the CEO and I are on the same page on ideas for the turn around. I find I have some ideas of my own that could be done and this is just from basic industry news (I follow a lot of REITs). Many of my ideas follow along the ideas of better efficiency and using new technologies. I have yet to study the company and management. I will be doing this a bit each day for the next 6 weeks to see if any of my preconceived ideas are even being discussed let alone implemented. For retailers and M specifically, I would like to see some store w/i a store concept. This s/d do two things; (1) if they partner w/ another boutique retailer (say cosmetics) M would be able to get monies for dedicated floor space (ie rents) and (2) if their partner complements the same target customer, then that 'niche' store will drive traffic into the big store M. This store w/i store concept should increase operating margins and cash flows. Profit margins only increase from controlling expenses and selling high end 'branded' items and/or moving volume from lower end items. I am no expert on retailing but will see management is doing differently this time as in previous years nothing they have done has really worked. It is interesting that Gross margins are above the industry average and that is a big positive. The key is what happens in the big Q4 Christmas & New Year's period. I have never been a real fan of retail but Macy's & Nordstroms have always been survivors. Another big investment I made in the retail sector was Home Depot buying shares in the 2002 time period in the $20/share price range but selling way too early in the mid $30-$40 area. You had a second chance in 2008-2009 around $25/share. HD at $163/share is probably at fair value but notice that BV is is only $3/share and current valuation is all about EPS and PE. HD's PE is still not that high at 23.5x trailing and 19.6x forward. Both HD and M pay a nice dividend. For HD was paid on my capital while I waited fro earnings and growth to kick in. Good Investing EKS