According to J.Crew's press release on their website (click here for link to "Investors Relations"), they are having a conference call today "to review its second quarter fiscal 2008 financial results." The broadcast will be "live over the Internet on Tuesday, August 26, 2008 at 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time" and will be "available by clicking on the 'Investor Relations' section of the Company's website at www.jcrew.com."The following image is the stock price so far. I am curious to see where the stock price is at the end of closing day today. :)
Will you be watching the conference call live today? Do you own J.Crew stock? Have you been pleased with their past performance over the last quarter? Would you recommend buying J.Crew stock now?
As much as I love JC's clothes and shopping in general, my investment club will not be buying their stock any time soon. After nearly 20 years of investing in the market, I have learned that almost any retail (especially clothing) is just too risky. Sadly, the stocks that perform the best over the long term tend to be the most boring (oil, banks, etc.). But I do think it's o.k. to own a token amount if you really love the company, just don't put too many eggs in this one basket (as cute as it is :).
ReplyDeleteSlightlyOlderSally: I think it is wonderful that you are a part of an investment club!!! :) I also agree, that any stock portfolio should be diversified in order to reduce risk. :)
ReplyDeleteI actually did buy J.Crew stock because I love the company so much, and spent so much there. I think that they may go down a bit more next quarter, but then start rising again. :)
I don't think I'll listen to the earnings report, but I'll definitely scope it out later. It'd be interesting to see the results, for sure!
ReplyDeleteWho seriously has time to sit there and listen? Hello, people WORK!
ReplyDeleteWhile I don't plan to listen in on the conference call, I am still interested to hear the results. :)
ReplyDeleteI am having my dad track JCrew for me because I really think it has upside potential (my dad loves researching stocks LOL!). While I don't always agree with the business direction, the company has a loyal (for now!) following and the key ideas about the company are clear, following Mickey's intro.
ReplyDeleteI agree that clothing retail is very risky. I owned Gap for awhile and it was crazy good for a few years...
Off-topic: Is anyone else unable to see anything but the front page of the website today? Anytime I try to click on anything (women, sale, etc.) all I get is a blank screen that says this:
ReplyDeleteError:
JSP_EXECUTION_FAILED
Am trying to figure out if it's a website problem or a block from work...thanks!!!
amy: I can get all the pages on the jcrew site to open, so maybe it's a block?
ReplyDeleteamy - It took a few tries, but I finally got the site to load. I never got the error message you received, but I have seen that in the past. You might try opening another browser session. Or clearing your cache and starting again. Have patience. The website can still be a bear. The kinks are still not worked out and with the new catalog(s) going around, I imagine traffic has increased.
ReplyDeleteThanks, gigiofca and audrey! It seems to be working with internet explorer but not mozilla...whew!
ReplyDeleteDarn! My dad was so good at researching stocks for me. If he was still living I would have him listen to the report and give me his thoughts on it. He was the best at things like this.
ReplyDeleteI am really anxious to hear the results although, like others, I don't plan to listen in on the call. Hopefully, someone will post about it! :)
They are still experiencing a lot of problems with their online orders, which is not a good sign for the company. For the second time in like two weeks, they cancelled an order I placed last week. So sad for me. To make up for it, they offered an both a 30% discount and my teacher's discount of 15% on my next order. At least they are trying to make up for their screw ups.
ReplyDeleteI won't be surprised if JC announces that it missed its 2Q targets. The issues with the website and costs incurred may have impacted sales and may impact investor confidence in management decision-making.
ReplyDeleteAnd the website/inventory issues continue. In the past month, I have received a $400 handbag that I did not order (it came without a shipping invoice--I returned to my B&M), and did not receive a pair of shoes that I ordered as part of a larger order (but was charged for). And today received an order cancellation notice for a shirt I ordered over the red phone on Sunday. (Lydia water-color, a Jenna's pick. I've had my eye out for it since it appeared as part of an outfit in the August cataglog.) I called CS, because I couldn't believe that the item was sold out when it was part of the new roll-out that had just hit the stores two days earlier. CS checked and found that there were at least 200 available in my size. He offered to ship the shirt overnight and comp the shipping so I would be sure to get it. The misdirected orders and comp'ed shipping cannot be helping the bottom line.
I bought some shares recently because they were cheap. I don't think J. Crew is going anywhere anytime soon, but I also don't see a whole lot of growth potential.
ReplyDeleteI linked ShareBuilder.com's J.Crew page to my name. ^ They have a lot of good info about the stock. If you click on the one year range on the graph you can see how far the stock has fallen just since June. I logged in and according to TheStreet.com ratings site, J.Crew's stock is barely listed as a hold (C- "fair"), bordering on sell.
ReplyDeleteBased on the first half of the year, now would be a good time to get some stock. But would I want to take a chance that the seasonal sales don't go as planned? I dunno. An article at the bottom talks about how April and May sales didn't go as planned and then you can see for yourself that the stock fell starting in June.
But an article from today says it is projected to post a 33 cent profit per share for the 2nd quarter. So if you bought a couple of shares you could make enough to buy yourself a coke.
Hi All - Have the accessories ''newspaper'' in front of me. It is styled similarly but photographed very differently that a regular J Crew catalog. Also, for those of you who thought $500 was too much for the Jamie , I am sure the python version at $3000 will blow you away. There are a few other new things, but everything else we have already seen.
ReplyDeleteHi Jenn_Brak, can I ask if you got the accessories "newspaper" in the mail or from a store?
ReplyDeleteFrom a store.
ReplyDeleteAllison: Thanks for the link! It is great to see J.Crew's stock price laid out in a chart. :)
ReplyDeleteJenn_Brak: Congrats on having the Accessories Catalog. Hopefully JCrew will post that catalog online as well. :)
NY0311 & Anonymous at 12:49 PM: I agree that J.Crew's site is still having some major issues. I definitely see those issues impacting their performance.
JCG is up 93 cents in heavy trading (2.8M shares traded) which seems to indicate that the earnings report may not be as weak as others in the retail sector and management may reaffirm their full year guidance.
ReplyDeletewell, I'm waiting on hold for CS. The messages says the wait time is five minutes - we'll see. If their stock performance is a reflection of the new system enhancements, I'm sad for JCrew.
ReplyDeleteIt is going to be the next quarter that will show the effects of the online fiasco.
ReplyDeleteBR and Lands End both have similar web sites, and they were able to upgrade without a hitch.
I think this is really going to hit them hard....esp. since there are still LOTS of problems with their website....
ReplyDeleteWeekenders clothing company just closed out of the blue and left many people without a job....
OFF TOPIC: Hi Alexis, we need a new post alerting people to randomly cancelled orders...if you read down a few posts or three or four people are reporting this as a fairly new thing when the items are brand new and still in fact in stock when they call.....this really sucks rocks....I am so glad for this blog to keep us all informed and not panicky...
ReplyDeleteAnn
Hello,
ReplyDeleteI cannot use site today. I too agree with the "inventory cancelled thing" needing to become a thread. I have had 7 items, count them, 7 orders cancelled in the past week. Sadly, one of those I paid for weeks ago and never got the item. They keep trying to put me on the waitlist and then cancelling items that are in fact in stock. So, BEWARE, for me, the problems are getting WORSE! My CS guy that is about the only one helping me thus far is telling me they pretty much have no control over this and have to "cross their fingers" when they try and re-place an order (not to reassuring to me). Its costing me money and getting WAY out of hand. I spent probably a total of 2 workdays the past 2 weeks trying to get all of my problems resolved. This is a sinking ship! After 2 months, a disaster! Again, I am now re-placing the cancelled items myself, only problem is I cannot view item details today at all. Anyone know how to email or mail all of my issues to head of company or a board member?
Inventory cancelled thing: What if I make a purchase with several gift cards, etc. and my order gets cancelled??? OH MY...what a pain this is.....I have been trying to stay positive but this really is frustrating:(
ReplyDeleteThis is exactly the reason why I am not buying at all from JC. I also have gift card and discounts, if the order gets cancelled you are screwed. Sorry about being negative but this is reality in dealing with JC these days and months. The website obviously could not keep up with the increased traffic.
ReplyDeleteJUST BE SUPER ON TOP OF THINGS! Seems the site is down, they gave out a coupon, and the CS dept. has no way to control what shipping/order fufill dept. is doing. So, they are "trying things to see if they work". Not cool when they are playing with our time and money. Its getting so bad that they need to just shut down operations for a few days or until they get their asses in line. Come on, 2 months! Its unacceptable for me to hear some of the excuses I have been getting! Not to mention the 20+ emails I have sent over the past couple of weeks replying to orders cancelled, checking on mistake and orders lost in space. Sorry but 15% does not even begin to cover the time and aggravation I have wasted. Good luck with those gift cards because they are flying by the seat of their pants at CS. Just watch orders like a hawk!
ReplyDeleteI can't believe this is still happening....I only have the website to order from too....I have a rewards card to use too....I hope they get it together soon as I will wait and use it right before it expires in a couple of weeks....finger crossed.....I want to cry though....my beloved JCrew is sinking....
ReplyDeleteAnn: Consider that topic a post for tomorrow! Thanks for the great suggestion. Although I am very sad to hear about orders being canceled. :(
ReplyDeleteThe sad thing is, the orders are being dropped that are placed by CS heads themselves! So, does not look good when they cannot get it to work. Had 3 items dropped, still cannot get them after they tried 3 times to direct order for me. Have a necklace on hold for weeks, had 2 reps, one a super place a special request to get out of hanging state and still no luck. Sad thing is, its supposedly limited and has been in stock so its nuts. My rep told me he came back after being off for a day to 600 complaints. They are a disaster. I think they are ready to throw the towel in at CS dept. All they are saying now is we can't deal, no offers or promises anymore, its too bad there. So, just be on top of things or you could be double-charged, never get an item, etc.
ReplyDeleteThe worst I have ever seen as far as problems across the board. They are in trouble.
My husband is a financial advisor, and he never recommends retail stocks (LOL -- he had someone call him to buy stock in Crocs -- he talked them out of that). I've had too many cancelled orders too, plus merchandise that I didn't order showing up at my door.
ReplyDeleteI listened to a large portion of the conference call - and I found a few things interesting.
ReplyDelete1. They said that the website upgrade was absolutely necessary. They needed to change in order to support multiple stores (madewell, crewcuts). However, they were disappointed in the results of the upgrade and should have been more conservative in their predictions.
2. The launch of the madewell ecommerce site has been delayed to early next year. It's nice to know that J.Crew's site (and the holiday season) is still top priority.
3. You should "run", not walk to see the mens store in Tribeca...
4. They needed to change their warehouse management system to support multiple brands (once again, madewell and crewcuts)
5. They hope to stabilize their direct retail (online, catalog) over the third quarter)
6. M.Drexler made a reference to "pissed off customers" that made me chuckle. He also said that when the customers received personalized calls they were more understanding.
7. There is a regional difference in traffic on the site (more areas have higher amounts than others.)
Those are just the tidbits that I found interesting. Oh, and somebody asked what the hottest color was at the moment - Drexler said "gray denim" for madewell but didn't mention anything for J.Crew.
katherined: Thank-you for posting that, number 6 made me laugh. I wish I received a personalized call for my mess last week with CS it would have calmed me down.
ReplyDeleteKatherined: Thanks for the great summary! :) I listened to a portion of the call as well. I found it interesting that Drexler mentioned pissed off customers too! ;) He also acknowledged that their are several types of customers, including the sale shopper- that he didn't want to lose (which I was happy to hear too). I think he also mentioned that there were no more or less sale items available this year from last year.
ReplyDeleteThey briefly mentioned that Madewell is opening 10 more stores next year and that people really seem to like the store. However, I am not a big fan of Madewell so I found that interesting. I guess I am just not the demographic for that store.
You're welcome! I actually just took a few notes so I would remember what they said.
ReplyDeleteI also heard him mention the sale shopper - and I'm glad he recognizes them (well, us!)
katherined - Awesome report! Very intriguing. I think I missed my calling in marketing. I am really interested in that aspect of business.
ReplyDelete