Replies to post #118516 on Coffee Sipping Big Board Stocks

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Tack on our RB time ---- and, one could
say we're older than dirt !! ;-)

Beat The Street ---- was NONE better -- back in the day!

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Sears Raises 'Substantial Doubt' About its Future
KNIGHT RIDDER/TRIBUNE 12:01 AM ET 3/23/2017
Symbol Last Price Change
SHLD 7.98down 0 (0%)
WMT 70.25up 0 (0%)
SWK 130.6up 0 (0%)
M 28.37down 0 (0%)
QUOTES AS OF 04:00:00 PM ET 03/22/2017
March 23---- With department stores getting scarce at the Enfield Square Mall, Diana and Tom Eastwood headed to the Sears(SHLD) at the Shoppes at Buckland Hills in Manchester on Wednesday.

Over the years, the Enfield couple has turned to Sears(SHLD) to purchase household staples such as clothing, tools, a lawn mower and other items.

Now, as shoppers move online and to other big box stores, the future is uncertain for the retailer famous for pioneering catalog shopping in the 19th century.

Sears Holdings (SHLD) said in its annual report Tuesday that "substantial doubt exists" it can continue to operate as it struggles to raise cash. No decision on the future of Sears(SHLD) stores was announced.

"Our historical operating results indicate substantial doubt exists related to the company's ability to continue as a going concern," Sears Holdings(SHLD) said in its annual report.

Sears (SHLD) said the biggest question is whether it can raise enough cash to stay in business. It currently has $4.2 billion in debt, up from $3 billion a year ago. In addition to Enfield and Manchester, Sears(SHLD) operates in Barkhamsted, Colchester, Danbury, Meriden, Milford, Newington, Shelton, Waterbury, Waterford and West Haven.

Despite a historic innovation, the company failed to keep up.

"They dreamed up the idea of a catalog so everyone had a big store in their hand," said James E. Schrager, clinical professor of entrepreneurship and strategy at the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago. "It was the internet of their time."

But Sears(SHLD) missed the "next dominant waves" of discount retail of the early 1960s, he said. Among the retailers that got it right was Wal-Mart(WMT), which now dominates U.S. retail. He said Sears'(SHLD) problems are largely of its own making rather than due to the internet or tough competition.

When Sears(SHLD) soon moved to major malls, it "stopped doing strategy," Schrager said.

GlobalData, a data analysis firm, said in a note March 9 that the "blunt truth is that Sears(SHLD) is simply not delivering what consumers want."

"On the contrary: Its product mix, its store environments, its customer service and its general approach to retailing are actively deterring consumers from visiting," it said.

Sears Holding has failed to post an annual profit since 2010. Last year, it reported losses of $2.2 billion and annual revenue declined 12 percent, to $22.1 billion.

Last month, the company said it was trimming $1 billion in annual costs. It also announced plans to close an additional 150 Kmart(SHLD) and Sears(SHLD) stores and sold its Craftsman brand of tools and lawn equipment to New Britain-based Stanley Black & Decker(SWK) for more than $900 million.

The retailer is not the only department store struggling. Macy's(M) announced in January it will eliminate more than 10,000 jobs and shut 68 stores following a disappointing holiday shopping season. It cited consumer shifts to specialty stores and online shopping.

Sears Holdings (SHLD) is the parent of Kmart Holding and Sears, Roebuck, & Co.(SHLD), formed following the March 2005 merger between the two companies.

"Sears(SHLD) was effectively dead as a retailer in 2004," Schrager said. "The board of Sears(SHLD) gave up, 'We've done this all our life, we're whipped.'"

"You go into a Sears(SHLD) store," Schrager said. "No one is there. No one is in the parking lot."

It was a steep decline for a company that built the Sears Tower in Chicago in 1973, then the world's tallest building. For decades, Sears(SHLD) was king of the American shopping landscape. Sears, Roebuck and Co.'s(SHLD) storied catalog featured items from bicycles to sewing machines to houses, and could generate excitement throughout a household when it arrived. The company began opening retail locations in 1925 and expanded swiftly in suburban malls from the 1950s to 1970s.

Different shopping habits by new consumers and online retailing have changed the industry, and analysts say Sears(SHLD) has been slow to respond. It's increased its online presence, but its stores need to be rejuvenated to compete with Wal-Mart(WMT) and Target, which has invested to revitalize its stores.

"They're past the tipping point," said Ken Perkins, who heads the research firm Retail Metrics LLC. "This is a symbolic acknowledgment of the end of Sears(SHLD) of what we know it to be."

For Sears(SHLD) to survive, Perkins believes it would need to do so as a company running maybe 200 stores. It now operates 1,430, a figure that has been vastly reduced in recent years. As for Kmart(SHLD), Perkins does not see much of a future.

Diana Eastwood said she would feel the loss of Sears(SHLD) in Connecticut.

"I always thought it gives you an option," she said.

An Associated Press report was included in this story.

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COLUMN-Ten-fold gain in retirement saving? No thanks, say Republicans
REUTERS 7:05 AM ET 3/23/2017
(The opinions expressed here are those of the author, a columnist for Reuters.)

By Mark Miller

CHICAGO, March 23 (Reuters) - At the risk of stating the obvious: People are much more likely to save for retirement when they can do it automatically at work. How much more likely? Ten times, according to a study released this week.

But someone apparently forgot to tell U.S. Congress and the White House, because both are moving to block millions of workers from getting that opportunity. Any day now, the Senate is expected to approve a resolution - already passed by the House - that throws a roadblock in front of states preparing to offer government-sponsored, low-cost retirement saving plans to people who do not have them at work.

President Donald Trump has pledged to sign the resolution - but the Senate could do something important for the future retirement security of millions by rejecting it. In fact, all it needs to do is - nothing.

If the Senate does not act, a ruling issued last year by the Department of Labor (DoL) goes forward. It makes it easier for states to launch programs that would require employers without their own plans to set up payroll deductions for automatic contributions to a publicly run IRA account. The rule exempts state plans from the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) if they meet certain conditions. That provides important reassurance to employers participating in the plan, who worry about compliance cost and legal liability under ERISA.

This is the latest in a series of anti-consumer, pro-Wall Street moves coming out of Washington since the Republican Party consolidated its control in January. The Trump administration also has moved to throw the brakes on the fiduciary rule that requires financial advisers to act in the best interest of clients.

In addition, Republican lawmakers are aiming to curtail the oversight powers of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which - among other achievements - last year exposed a massive fraud against customers by Wells Fargo (http://reut.rs/2mp9QPX)

Opponents of state auto IRA plans in the financial services industry argue that consumers need the protections of ERISA. But that does not hold water, since most IRAs are not covered by ERISA. Their real concern is that they do not want to see a lower-cost government-sponsored “public option” to the retirement products they sell.

They further argue that the public option plans would have an unfair competitive advantage over private plans. But the tax incentives for employers to provide plans would continue to be much larger than for an IRA, and employers would be prohibited from making matching contributions.

Research by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) confirms that the impact of auto IRAs would be modest compared with 401(k)s, because they generally default to a relatively low contribution rate (3 percent of pay) and have opt-out features for workers.

The expected rule rollback will not stop the seven states that already have enacted auto IRA programs from proceeding, but it will create uncertainty for them - and could discourage other states from starting plans.

Auto IRAs have the potential to help 55 million people gain workplace coverage, AARP estimates. And here is the irony: just as the Senate prepares to pull the rug out from under auto IRAs, the aforementioned “factor of ten” research was published - indicating just how badly these plans are needed.

This week, EBRI issued its 27th annual Retirement Confidence Survey - the longest-running annual study of how well American workers are doing with retirement planning. Confidence among workers dipped last year despite the strong stock market - the share of workers who say they feel very or somewhat confident about their retirement prospects fell from 64 percent to 60 percent, and overall confidence is still well below where it was before the Great Recession.

Even more troubling, 47 percent say their total household savings and investments total less than $25,000, including 24 percent who have less than $1,000.

Successful planning is correlated strongly to availability of a workplace saving option. As mentioned, workers who participate are 10 times more likely to be saving currently, and they have significantly higher savings.

But availability is falling. Another study released this month looked at retirement plan coverage among households near retirement age (51-56), finding that it shrank from 70 percent in 2004 to 63 percent in 2010. Conducted by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College (CRR), the study is based on data from the Health and Retirement Study, an ongoing longitudinal survey of older Americans sponsored by the National Institute on Aging and the Social Security Administration.

CRR also found that the shift away from traditional pensions to 401(k) and IRA accounts has mainly benefited people with more education and wealth. In 2010, some 52 percent of wealth in defined contribution plans was held by the top quartile of the households measured by education. By contrast, 35 percent of wealth from traditional pensions was held in the top quartile.

All of this at a time when Social Security is projected to replace less income in the years ahead due to higher retirement ages, and as medical costs and longevity are both are rising.

The trends underscore the need for state auto-IRA plans to proceed, said Alicia Munnell, CRR’s director. "Everyone needs to save for retirement to supplement Social Security, but half of private sector workers do not have an employer-based retirement savings plan at any given point, and few save outside of workplace plans.”

She added: "Since the federal government has not acted to close this enormous coverage gap, states are stepping into the breach to help their own citizens." (Editing by Matthew Lewis)

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