Hot Retail Companies To Watch For 2015

Hot Retail Companies To Watch For 2015: Pier 1 Imports Inc (PIR)

Pier 1 Imports, Inc. (Pier 1 Imports), incorporated in April 30, 1986, is a global importer of imported decorative home furnishings and gifts. As of March 2, 2013, the Company had 1,062 stores in the United States and Canada. During the fiscal year ended March 2, 2013 (fiscal 2013), the Company opened 22 new Pier 1 Imports stores and closed 12 stores. The Company operates regional distribution center facilities in or near Baltimore, Maryland; Columbus, Ohio; Fort Worth, Texas; Ontario, California; Savannah, Georgia, and Tacoma, Washington. The specialty retail operations of the Company consist of retail stores and e-Commerce operations conducting business under the name Pier 1 Imports, which sell a range of furniture, decorative home furnishings, dining and kitchen goods, candles, gifts and other specialty items for the home.

As of March 2, 2013, the Company operated 982 Pier 1 Imports stores in the United States and 80 Pier 1 Imports stores in Canada. During fiscal 2013, the Company supplied merchandise and licensed the Pier 1 Imports name to Grupo Sanborns, which sold Pier 1 Imports merchandise primarily in a store within a store format in 49 Sears Mexico stores and one store in El Salvador. The stores consist of freestanding units located near shopping centers or malls and in-line positions in major shopping centers. Pier 1 Imports operates in all major United States metropolitan areas and many of the primary smaller markets.

Decorative Accessories

This merchandise group constitutes the range of category of merchandise in Pier 1 Imports sales mix. These items are imported primarily from Asian and European countries, as well as some domestic sources. This merchandise group includes decorative accents, lamps, vases, dried and artificial flowers, baskets, ceramics, dinnerware, bath and fragrance products, candles, seasonal and gift items.

Furniture

This merchand! ise group cons ists of furniture and furniture cushions to be used in living, dining, office, kitchen and bedroom areas, sunrooms and on patios. Also included in this group are wall decorations and mirrors. These goods are imported from a variety of countries such as Vietnam, Malaysia, Brazil, Thailand, China, the Philippines, India and Indonesia, and are also obtained from domestic sources. This merchandise group is made of metal or handcrafted natural materials, including rattan, pine, beech, rubberwood and selected hardwoods with either natural, stained, painted or upholstered finishes.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Bed Bath & Beyond stands to benefit from the upturn in the housing market that we've seen recently. Already, rival Williams-Sonoma (NYSE: WSM  ) , which operates the higher-end Pottery Barn home-furnishings chain, reported extremely strong sales, with its West Elm division showing the strongest results. With Pier 1 (NYSE: PIR  ) also having shown signs of benefiting from the booming market, Bed Bath & Beyond should finally enjoy some macroeconomic tailwinds to support its results.

• [By Teresa Rivas]

  Pier One Imports (PIR) was jumping 3% Tuesday after an upgrade from Barclays.

  Analysts Alan Rifkin and Sam Reid upgraded the stock to Overweight from Equal Weight, and boosted their target price by $4, to $23, writing that the stock has suffered perfect storm of one-time operational headwinds that has masked its potential long-term performance.

  They write that this year should finally bring the payoff of years of significant investment in personnel and technology, and more normalized sales and margins will replace its previous high levels of capital expenditure.

  Given that the stock is off more than 20% in the past year, they also write that the selloff has gone too far, and it is a compelling buying opportunity at current levels, which represent a meaningful discount to peers. A! lthough t! he company just reported an upbeat fourth quarter last week, they expect the current first quarter to be a catalyst for the stock, as it will provide an opportunity for management to begin to demonstrate this renewed momentum.

  More from their note:

  Supporting top-line growth, we note: (1) E-comm investments have likely peaked; accelerating e-comm growth (to 10% in 2015) should be highly supportive of both top-line (and EBIT). We do not believe forward valuation fully reflects this. (2) A sequential acceleration in comps is highly likely. We are looking for 5% comps for 2014 (vs. 2.4% in 2013), which should yield productivity per square foot of ~$215. (3) PIRs merchandising strategy remains on track. We think differentiation relative to peer offerings is an underappreciated positive. (4) PIR should benefit from attractive housing industry fundamentals in 2014-15. Collectively, these four growth engines should support both occupancy and SG&A leverage. We also note that (5) the accelerated buyback underscores managements conviction in an operating performance rebound. After repurchasing 5% of total shares in the fi

• [By Peter Graham]

  The Q3 2014 earnings report for large caphomedecor retailer Bed Bath & Beyond Inc (NASDAQ: BBBY), a potential peer of other furniture or home d茅cor retailers like mid capWilliams-Sonoma, Inc (NYSE: WSM) and small caps Restoration Hardware Holdings Inc (NYSE: RH) and Pier 1 Imports Inc (NYSE: PIR), is scheduled for after the market closes on Thursday (January 8th).Aside from the Bed Bath & Beyondearnings report, it should be said that Williams-Sonoma, Inc reported Q3 2014 earnings on November 19th (they beat expectations when revenues grew 8.7% to $1.143 billion and EPS increased 17.2% to $0.68); Restoration Hardware Holdings Inc reported Q3 2014 earnings on December 10th (revenues increased 22% to $484.7 million and adjusted net income increased 56% to $20.3 million); and Pier 1 Imports Inc reported Q3 2015 earnings on December 1! 8th (sale! s were up 4.1% to $484.5 million and net income was $17.9 million verses $26.8 million).

• [By Chris Hill]

  In this installment of Investor Beat, Charly and Jason explain why they're keeping a close eye on shares of Pier 1 Imports (NYSE: PIR  ) and Kroger (NYSE: KR  ) .

source from Top Stocks To Buy For 2015:http://www.topstocksforum.com/hot-retail-companies-to-watch-for-2015.html