24 Quotes by Gary Balter

With the stock trading at these attractive levels, we would have liked to see more significant repurchases.

Sears faces significant challenges in the discount retail market, particularly from the large cap retailers Wal-Mart and Target.

Given the plethora of new and improved products that we should see this Christmas ... if there was a year to have a delay, this is it.

Kmart is generating well over $500 million a year in cash flow. They have over $2 billion in cash. That, combined with their real estate value, should provide higher support for the stock.

It is not enough to change our investment opinions, but is a negative in the tally board of pros and cons as we begin to focus on Christmas 2006.

Retailers are getting smarter in the way they do business. They are reducing their inventories and keeping prices steady. Consumers are beginning to realize that they can't just wait for the sales like they used to.

Our outperform rating was based on our view that the management team was doing an excellent job of turning around the margins at this large industry player. The market's valuation at around 6 times cash flow we believe made this an attractive acquisition target. The questions now will be whether another buyer steps in.

That comment should calm concerns that the first quarter could be down, and positions Best Buy for solid earnings per share improvements against the second and third quarters.

Michaels announced management changes that we believe will be a plus to the story at this time.