Thursday, September 18, 2014

Seekng Alpha: Gordmans Stores Has Better Management, Will Results Reflect It?

Six months ago I described Gordmans Stores (NASDAQ:GMAN) as a "falling knife", but since then the shares have acted more like a sharknado. The stock's 45% drop since then can't be explained away by a difficult environment - stocks like Stein Mart (NASDAQ:SMRT), TJX (NYSE:TJX), and Ross Stores (NASDAQ:ROST) haven't been ripping higher, but they haven't been nearly as weak as Gordmans. Despite better inventory management, Gordmans can't seem to get its merchandising/assortments right and the comps and margins are suffering as a result.

Maybe, just maybe, things might be looking up. Gordmans recently named Andy Hall as the new CEO, replacing interim CEO T. Scott King who took over when Jeff Gordman announced his retirement earlier in the year. Hall brings good experience as the former CEO of Stage Stores (NYSE:SSI) and has already laid out some common sense near-term initiatives. Gordmans is still looking at a long road back to growth, and I wouldn't dismiss the competitive threat of the likes of TJX's T.J. Maxx and Marshalls, Kohl's (NYSE:KSS), or Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT), but the absolute pounding that this stock has seen (down 75% over the past year) has already washed out a lot of expectations.

Read the full article here:
Gordmans Stores Has Better Management, Will Results Reflect It?

No comments: