Friday, October 11, 2013

Seeking Alpha: Even Near A 52-Week High, Investors Expect Little From Home Retail Group

Imagine a combination of Service Merchandise, Best Buy (BBY), and an overgrown ACE Hardware (or shrunken Home Depot (HD)) and you get into the neighborhood of what the UK's Home Retail Group (HMRTY.PK) is about. Combining Argos, a former trading stamp and catalog retailer that has transformed into a multichannel retailer, and Homebase, a home/garden-focused home improvement chain, Home Retail is a share leader in many parts of the UK retail market.

Home Retail Group is not a particularly popular stock in some respects. The shares are up more than 70% this year, but down 10% over the past five years and the shares trade at levels that suggest minimal growth and near-constant erosion to Amazon (AMZN) on an ongoing basis. Although I don't want to suggest it's smooth sailing from here on for Home Retail, I think the company's ability to drive online sales at Argos is encouraging and I believe even modest success from here on could drive worthwhile returns.

Continue here for the full article:
Even Near A 52-Week High, Investors Expect Little From Home Retail Group

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