August 7, 2003 Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, Inc. (JOSB)
Not too many picks for our board today...Jos. A. Bank Clothiers does seem to fit the bill. JOSB had a great day along with some other retailers like Best Buy for it seems the consumer is still alive....even if he is not refinancing his house...he is spending at the Mall!

JOSB closed at $44.16 today, up $5.31 or 13.67%. According to CNN.Money, "Jos. A. Bank Clothiers is a retailer, cataloger, and manufacturer of men's tailored and casual clothing and accessories."

As I have mentioned elsewhere in the BLOG, retailers are often measured in terms of 'same store sales growth'. This allows an observer to assess whether the existing stores are providing the growth engine or whether the company is giving the 'appearance' of growth by opening new outlets while existing outlets are actually performing at a less robust pace. In this case, getting to the point!, JOSB reported that its total sales for the month ending August 2, 2003, increased 31.6% to a record $17.5 million compared to $13.3 million in July, 2002. More importantly, same store sales increased 19.4% (!), while combined catalog and internet sales increased 25.4%, when compared to the prior-year month.

Let me repeat for emphasis, JOSB reported same store sales growth of 19.4%. This is fabulous!

Last May 20, 2003, JOSB reported their latest earnings report overall and announced earnings per share of $.30 for the first quarter of 2003 compared with $.25/share for the same period in 2002. Total sales increased 11.6% to $62.3 million compared with $55.8 million in the first quarter of 2002. During the first quarter, comparable store sales increased only 0.6%.

Morningstar.com shows a steady growth in revenue from $172.2 million in 1998, $187.2 million in 1999, $193.5 million in 2000, $206.3 million in 2001, $211.0 million in 2002 and $232.8 million in the trailing twelve months.

Free cash flow has been at best erratic with $7 million in 2001, $(12) million in 2002, $12 million in 2003, and $(11) million in the trailing twelve months.

The company has plenty of liquidity with $1.4 million in casha nd $108.7 million in other current assets compared to $56.5 million in current liabilities and $27.4 million in long-term liabilities.

Yahoo.com shows that this stock has a relatively small $240.9 million market cap with only 6.20 million shares outstanding and 5.00 million that float. No dividend is paid. The p/e is a reasonable 24.53 and the price to sales is also quite reasonable imho at 1.11. As of July 8, 2003, there are 829,000 shares out short representing 3.32 days of average trading volume.

I like this stock as much for its steady revenue growth as the superb same store sales growth figure just repeated. The p/e is reasonable, the price/sales ratio is fair, and there aren't many shares outstanding suggesting lots of room for growth.

Thanks for stopping by and please leave me a note a bobsadviceforstocks@lycos.com if you have any questions or comments.

Bob