Local focus keeps paying off for Macy’s

Article Excerpt

MACY’S INC. $40 (New York symbol M, Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 418.5 million; Market cap: $16.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.6; Dividend yield: 2.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.macysinc.com) continues to benefit from its My Macy’s plan to tailor its merchandise to local tastes. This strategy has attracted new shoppers to its department stores and encouraged repeat visits. As a result, its same-store sales were 7.3% higher in March 2012 than in March 2011. Macy’s is also seeing strong sales growth at its websites: online sales jumped 39.0% from March 2011. Macy’s is a buy. buy…