Today’s stock market: Discount sales hurt Reitman’s earnings

Reitmans (Canada) Ltd., symbol RET.A on Toronto, owns 968 women’s clothing stores across Canada. We analyze Reitmans in Stock Pickers Digest, our newsletter for aggressive investing in today’s stock market. These include 364 Reitmans, 161 Penningtons, 158 Smart Set, 121 Addition Elle, 75 Thyme Maternity, 67 RW & Co. and 22 Cassis stores. Reitmans continues to actively monitor its regional markets, and open and close stores as necessary. In the three months ended January 29, 2011, sales rose slightly, to $269.5 million from $268.1 million a year earlier. Earnings fell 19.1%, to $11.4 million, or $0.17 a share, from $14.1 million, or $0.21 a share. This was mainly because the company was forced to offer discounts to clear out old merchandise. That cut its profit margins. It also offset gains from a strong Canadian dollar against the U.S. dollar. A strong Canadian dollar helps Reitmans, because it pays its Chinese suppliers in U.S. dollars. If you’re interested in investing in aggressive investing in today’s stock market, you should subscribe to Stock Pickers Digest. What’s more, you can get one month free when you subscribe now. Click here to learn how.

Jim is an associate editor at TSI Network. He is the lead reporter and analyst for The Successful Investor and Wall Street Stock Forecaster and a member of the Investment Planning Committee. Jim has held the Chartered Financial Analyst designation since 1992 and spent more than a decade at the Financial Post DataGroup before joining TSI Network. He has a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Toronto.