Buyout rumour spurs Jones’s stock

Article Excerpt

JONES GROUP INC. $16 (New York symbol JNY; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 80.1 million; Market cap: $1.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.3; Dividend yield: 1.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.jonesgroupinc.com) designs clothing, accessories and footwear for men and women. Its major brands include Jones New York and Gloria Vanderbilt. The stock has jumped 46% since the start of 2013. That’s largely due to speculation that the company is looking to sell itself. Meanwhile, in response to slowing sales, Jones plans to close 170 of its 574 stores and cut its workforce by 8%. This should lower its annual costs by $40 million when it completes the plan in 2014. To put that in context, Jones earned $10.8 million, or $0.15 a share, before restructuring costs in the first quarter of 2013. Jones Group is a hold. hold…