Joe Fresh: Still a winner for Loblaw

Article Excerpt

LOBLAW COMPANIES LTD. $46 (Toronto symbol L; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 282.1 million; Market cap: $13.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.4; Dividend yield: 2.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.loblaw.ca) continues to expand its Joe Fresh business, which makes casual clothing and accessories. In addition to selling these goods in its supermarkets, Loblaw has also opened over 20 stand-alone Joe Fresh stores in Canada and the U.S. In October 2013, Joe Fresh began selling its products in Canada through its own website. In the U.S., Joe Fresh sells its goods online through an alliance with struggling department store operator J.C. Penney (New York symbol JCP). Joe Fresh has also opened boutiques inside nearly 700 of Penney’s 1,100 department stores in the U.S. Penney recently switched back to its traditional marketing plan after it alienated shoppers with a failed everyday low prices strategy. That should help draw more traffic to Penney’s stores and boost Joe Fresh’s sales. Loblaw is a..