Funny Business

SQUAWK BOX VIDEO

25 Nov 2009

A look at what's likely to happen at the registers once the doors open on Friday, with Richard Hastings, Global Hunters Securities; Richard Jaffe, Stifel Nicolaus & Co. and CNBC's Jane Wells.

Black Friday: Bargain or Bust?

25 Nov 2009

Whether the deals are better than what shoppers will usually see or if it is just another marketing tactic, with Hitha Prabhakar, Style File Group; Brad Wilson, BlackFriday2009.com and CNBC's Jane Wells.

Holiday Central 25 Nov 2009
A discussion of the many ways retailers are preparing for Black Friday, live from K-Mart in Burbank, CA, with CNBC's Jane Wells.
Retailers Getting Ready for Black Friday 25 Nov 2009
Retailers are getting ready for Black Friday, and CNBC's Jane Wells has the play by play. Stacy Janiak, of Deloitte, shares her insight.

Amazon vs. Wal-Mart

24 Nov 2009

What began as a price war between Wal-Mart and Amazon over a handful of books has nos spread to a wide assortment of consumer goods. Lee Eisenberg, a noted retail expert and consumer behaviorist, and CNBC's Jane Wells discuss.

Prices to Be Thankful For 24 Nov 2009
A decrease in food prices is something to be thankful for this holiday, reports CNBC's Jane Wells.

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CNBC ON DIGG

Vampires 'Played Out,' but Teens Less Ashamed of Coldwater Creek

Published: Friday, 9 Oct 2009 | 2:45 PM ET

Text Size

By: Jane Wells
Correspondent

Abercrombie & Fitch
Paul Sakuma / AP
Abercrombie & Fitch
Now that September retail numbers are behind us, Brian Tunick at J.P. Morgan is looking at October, and beyond.

For one thing, he says 45 percent of teenagers say the whole vampire thing is "getting a little played out". Well, sort of. More on that in a moment.

Tunick expects overall same store sales in October to fall 4.3 percent, but store by store, projections vary widely. Aeropostale [ARO Loading... () ] is expected to continue rocketing upward, with same store sales projected to increase between 12 and 14 percent. TJX [TJX Loading... () ] and Ross [ROST Loading... () ] are also expected to improve about six percent. Losers are the familiar names: Abercrombie & Fitch [ANF Loading... () ] (projected to fall 17 to 19 percent), Pacific Sunwear [PSUN Loading... () ] (projected down 21 to 23 percent), Talbots [TLB Loading... () ] (projected down 17 to 19 percent), and Tiffany [TIF Loading... () ] (projected down 15 to 17 percent).

Retailers Trying to Kick The Discount Habit

As for how investors are reacting to this week's positive news, Tunick says they "appear to be chasing beta as appetite for risk (i.e., the biggest margin recovery stories) is now increasing." He says specialty retail stocks in the Russell 2000 are up 82 percent on average this year, while the index is up 13 percent. Specialty retailers in the S&P 500 are up 52 percent year to date, handily beating the index, and the numbers are even better in the S&P 400: "Specialty retailers are up 126% while the index is up 20%."

What Teens (And The Rest of Us) Will Be Wearing This Halloween

Then Tunick throws in some entertainment value, with "Tunick's Top Ten Takeaways from OUR Teen Survey".

They include:

Sixty-five percent of teens surveyed can't understand why their allowances have been cut 50 percent...and YET mom keeps coming home with bags full of candles, shower gels and anti-bac soap form Bath & Body Works [LTD Loading... () ].
Seventy-four percent of teens surveyed still believe that Aeropostale's midteen EBIT margins have more room to expand next year than Abercrombie & Fitch's mid-single-digit EBIT margins.
Eighty-two percent are less embarrassed to be seen with their grandmother wearing Coldwater Creek [CWTR Loading... () ] apparel this year versus last year.
Regarding sales of "Twilight" paraphernalia at Hot Topic [HOTT Loading... () ], 45 percent of teens said that this vampire thing is "getting a little played out."
Ninety-eight percent of teens were Twittering, updating their Facebook page, and downloading games onto their iPhones [AAPL Loading... () ] while taking the survey "and can't believe that the investment community would actually think about listening to them when making investment decisions."

Wow! Really?

Oh, wait, what is this? An asterisk! "Please note that no actual teens were surveyed in our survey!!" Tunick also reports that his monthly poker game is coming up on Tuesday "so let me know if you're interested".

Who says analysts are boring?

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Topics:Trends & Fads | Retail Sales | Media | Print Media

Sectors:Retail | Media