{"id":40825,"date":"2013-08-08T17:50:20","date_gmt":"2013-08-08T21:50:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/countingpips.com\/forex-news\/?p=40825"},"modified":"2013-08-08T17:50:21","modified_gmt":"2013-08-08T21:50:21","slug":"whats-your-back-to-school-budget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/2013\/08\/08\/whats-your-back-to-school-budget\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s Your Back-to-School Budget?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By WallStreetDaily.com<\/u><\/a> <\/p>\n

The way I see it, you can buy thinner pencils or binders, skimp on gigabytes, find a backpack with fewer pockets \u2013 even load up on mix-and-match clothes instead of buying new outfits.<\/p>\n

It won\u2019t make a huge difference.<\/p>\n

If you have children, you\u2019re about to spend a lot<\/i> of money between now and September. It\u2019s a fact of life \u2013 like football in the fall and Frosty the Snowman blaring in the mall before you even roast the Thanksgiving turkey.<\/p>\n

It can\u2019t be avoided, and neither can the pre-back-to-school hype about retail sales and just how much<\/i> you\u2019re bound to shell out this year.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, the National Retail Federation (NRF) calculates that you\u2019re likely to spend $634.78 (on average) on clothes, shoes, basic supplies and electronics for your school-age children. The good news is, that\u2019s down a cool $50, or 7.8% less than last year.<\/p>\n

With that said, it doesn\u2019t seem like consumers are slowing down at all. If anything, they\u2019re upping their shopping game\u2026<\/p>\n

Wallets Opening Faster Than Ever<\/b><\/p>\n

The SPDR S&P Retail ETF<\/b> (XRT<\/a>) is up 23% year-to-date. This proves that shoppers have unlatched their purses and are making purchases at companies like Macy\u2019s<\/b> (M<\/a>), Netflix<\/b> (NFLX<\/a>) and Best Buy<\/b> (BBY<\/a>), which are all tracked by the ETF.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

At the same time, same-store sales rose 4.1% in June from the same period a year earlier, according to Retail Metrics Inc. That represents the largest increase since January.<\/p>\n

And online retailers are faring just as well…<\/p>\n

Global online retail and travel spending will surpass the $1.2-trillion mark this year, according to eMarketer. And the U.S. e-commerce market alone will generate $395.28 billion in business-to-consumer sales in 2013, with retail accounting for around 66%, or $261 billion. That represents a healthy 16% growth over 2012.<\/p>\n

Indeed, be it online or in store, the back-to-school season is second only to the winter holidays when it comes to retail sales.<\/p>\n

To prepare your portfolio to profit from the trend, here are some companies that are uniquely positioned to end the season on top.<\/p>\n

The Gap Inc. (<\/b>GPS<\/b><\/a>)<\/b> <\/b><\/p>\n

The best aspect of The Gap is that it\u2019s not a one-trick pony. Combined with Old Navy and Banana Republic, shares are trading at 10-year highs.<\/p>\n

In June, same-store sales jumped 7% over 2012 and earnings climbed 43%. Not to mention that two interesting events will take place for the company in August\u2026<\/p>\n

Quarterly results come out on August 22\u2013 and they haven\u2019t missed the mark in five years. Plus, Banana Republic will launch a highly anticipated, limited-edition collection from Issa London (best known for being the designer for the Duchess of Cambridge’s engagement dress in 2010).<\/p>\n

Staples (<\/b>SPLS<\/b><\/a>)<\/b><\/p>\n

Only time will tell how the upcoming $1.2-billion merger of Office Depot<\/b> (ODP<\/a>) and OfficeMax<\/b> (OMX<\/a>) will pan out. But don\u2019t count out Staples.<\/p>\n

One thing I like about Staples \u2013 besides a 3.3% yield \u2013 is its huge online retail presence. According to Internet Retailer, it\u2019s the No. 2 internet retailer, worldwide, ranked by sales.<\/p>\n

Online sales increased 5% in 2012, to $10.6 billion, even as brick-and-mortar store sales fell. That\u2019s $3.6 billion in total revenue more than OfficeMax.<\/p>\n

Wal-Mart (<\/b>WMT<\/b><\/a>)<\/b><\/p>\n

You probably thought you knew all you needed to about Wal-Mart, considering it has more than 10,800 stores visited each week by 245 million customers. But what I like about the company is a unique online approach to back-to-school shopping called \u201cClassrooms by Walmart.\u201d<\/p>\n

You see, about 35,000 parents registered for the site last year, which included perks like 4% cash back, free shipping and a teacher\/school search for lists. You get the drift.<\/p>\n

Last year, about 16,000 schools submitted supply lists to the shopping site. That\u2019s up to 40,000 so far in 2013.<\/p>\n

The Finish Line Inc. (<\/b>FINL<\/b><\/a>)<\/b><\/p>\n

What might be most interesting about this shoe retailer is its recent agreement with Macy’s to sell its athletic shoes in Finish Line-branded shops in more than 450 Macy’s stores and on Macys.com.<\/p>\n

Finish Line expects the Macy’s business to generate revenue of $250 million by 2017 and total sales projections of $2.2 billion.<\/p>\n

The company always seems to have something in its pipeline for improving customer experiences. This year involves a streamlined in-store pick-up process and better product search filtering on its website.<\/p>\n

Bottom line: As consumers dive into the back-to-school season, it might be a good idea to load up on retail stocks ahead of time.<\/p>\n

Ahead of the tape,<\/p>\n

Karen Canella<\/p>\n

The post What\u2019s Your Back-to-School Budget?<\/a> appeared first on  | Wall Street Daily<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Article By WallStreetDaily.com<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n

Original Article: What\u2019s Your Back-to-School Budget?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By WallStreetDaily.com The way I see it, you can buy thinner pencils or binders, skimp on gigabytes, find a backpack with fewer pockets \u2013 even load up on mix-and-match clothes instead of buying new outfits. It won\u2019t make a huge difference. If you have children, you\u2019re about to spend a lot of money between now … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “What\u2019s Your Back-to-School Budget?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40825"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40825\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}