Nordstrom aims to cut its credit risk

Article Excerpt

NORDSTROM INC. $67 (New York symbol JWN; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 189.7 million; Market cap: $12.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.1; Dividend yield: 2.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.nordstrom.com) aims to sell part of its credit card business, which has $2 billion in outstanding loans, to a bank. The sale would free up cash that Nordstrom can use to build new department stores and expand its e-commerce business. It would also shift the burden of collecting these loans to its partner. Meanwhile, Nordstrom expects its same-store sales to rise 2% to 4% for the current fiscal year. The stock also trades at a reasonable 17.4 times its projected earnings of $3.85 a share. Nordstrom is a buy. buy…