Stronger earnings lead to dividend hike

Article Excerpt

NORDSTROM INC. $38 (New York symbol JWN; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 218.9 million; Market cap: $8.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.9; Dividend yield: 2.1%; WSSF Rating: Average) earned $0.52 a share in its first quarter, which ended May 1, 2010. That’s up 40.5% from $0.37 a share a year earlier. The upscale retailer continues to do a good job of managing its inventory. That lowers the need for costly clearance sales. Sales rose 16.5%, to $2.1 billion from $1.8 billion. Same-store sales rose 12.0%. Nordstrom also raised its quarterly dividend by 25%, to $0.20 a share from $0.16. The new annual rate of $0.80 yields 2.1%. Nordstrom is a buy. buy…