| Ticker symbol | Company | Price as of 1/2/04 | 52-week high | 52-week low | % price change last month | Revenue per share T4Q | % total debt/total capital |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DIRECT TO CONSUMER | |||||||
| FLWS | 1-800-Flowers.com | $10.99 | $12.14 | $5.61 | (5.8%) | $8.49 | 8.3% |
| BL | Blair Corp. | 24.03 | 25.83 | 20.10 | (2.6) | 72.47 | 6.1 |
| CWTR | Coldwater Creek | 11.51 | 15.13 | 5.70 | (22.8) | 17.85 | 0 |
| HNV | Hanover Direct | 0.22 | 0.34 | 0.17 | (8.3) | 3.13 | 45.8 |
| JILL | J. Jill Group | 12.76 | 19.54 | 9.51 | (0.2) | 18.49 | 9.8 |
| MBAY | MediaBay | 1.10 | 1.65 | 0.60 | (16.0) | 3.08 | 57.5 |
| SPGLQ | Spiegel | 0.05 | 0.71 | 0.03 | (31.3) | 21.85 | 466.8 |
| DIRECT TO CONSUMER | |||||||
| BBOX | Black Box Corp. | $46.43 | $51.16 | $25.58 | 5.2% | $27.97 | 9.3% |
| CDWC | CDW Corp. | 58.86 | 63.65 | 36.30 | (3.2) | 50.68 | 0 |
| HSIC | Henry Schein | 66.76 | 70.00 | 34.17 | 0.2 | 70.26 | 22.5 |
| MSM | MSC Industrial Direct | 27.56 | 28.19 | 15.65 | 4.4 | 12.44 | 0.3 |
| NEB | New England Business Service | 29.76 | 32.00 | 20.70 | (1.7) | 43.96 | 51.2 |
| PCCC | PC Connection | 8.39 | 13.47 | 4.69 | (6.0) | 49.58 | 4.2 |
| MALL | PC Mall | 16.72 | 17.00 | 2.88 | 21.4 | 82.18 | 39.4 |
| PFP | Premier Farnell | 8.26 | 9.55 | 4.25 | (7.8) | 7.08 | 97.5 |
| SCHS | School Specialty | 33.45 | 34.79 | 17.02 | 17.4 | 40.59 | 47.8 |
| SSPY | Sport Supply Group | 1.97 | 2.20 | 1.45 | 8.1 | 11.39 | 38.7 |
| TESS | Tessco Technologies | 14.15 | 15.61 | 6.11 | (6.3) | 63.92 | 10.1 |
| ZONS | Zones | 1.63 | 1.82 | 0.60 | 36.0 | 31.88 | 0.7 |
| Sources: StockVal, Bloomberg | |||||||
Consumers may have been shelling out on holiday gifts in December, but they weren’t spending big on consumer catalog stocks. All seven of the publicly traded consumer marketers tracked for Catalog Age by Financial Advisory Partners lost value in December. In comparison, only five of the 12 business-to-business catalogers tracked, or 42%, saw their stock prices decline.
“Direct-to-consumer stocks were up nicely over the past quarter,” notes Ken Packer, managing partner at Des Moines, IA-based Financial Advisory Partners, “but down during the month due to early concerns that retail might not be as strong going forward as previously thought.” On the other hand, the b-to-b companies benefited from a 17% rise in business spending during the quarter, Packer says.
The biggest gainer, computer reseller PC Mall, benefited from reporting record third-quarter revenue and a 24% increase in corporate sales for the quarter. The Torrance, CA-based company also announced in late October the launch of the OnSale.com auction site.
School Specialty, the second greatest gainer, also announced record quarterly sales. And in a press release, its spresident/CEO David Vander Zanden projected increased spending among elementary, middle, and high schools — good news for the Greenville, WI-based multititle mailer of school furnishings and supplies.