These retailers could take a step back

Article Excerpt

These three traditional brick-and-mortar retailers reported strong sales and earnings growth during the important holiday shopping season. However, they remain vulnerable as more consumers shop online. A slowdown in earnings could also force them to cut their dividends. MACY’S INC. $31 (New York symbol M, Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 306.0 million; Market cap: $9.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.4; Dividend yield: 4.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.macysinc.com) operates 700 Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s department stores. It also has 160 speciality outlets and sells goods online. As part of a plan to improve its profitability, Macy’s has now closed 81 of about 100 of its underperforming stores. The company is also opening more of its Backstage discount stores. It now has 52 of those outlets. In addition, Macy’s will add more private-label brands. They offer higher profit margins than sales on national brands. If you exclude all unusual items, Macy’s earnings jumped to $2.82 a share for its fourth quarter ended February 3, 2018. That’s a..