Fourth-quarter revenues jump 16.6%
By Janice Chamberlain -- Kids Today, 5/1/2006
The eight companies on this edition of the Kids Today quarterly retail scorecard put up some pretty impressive numbers for the final quarter of 2005. Overall revenues jumped 16.6% as composite net income soared 22.6%.
Aggregate revenues for the retailers reflected the hot holiday season, exceeding $133 billion compared with just over $114 billion for the comparable 2004 period.
Net earnings for the eight companies were about $6 billion, measured against $4.9 billion a year earlier.
Third-quarter revenues were $108.2 million, up 7.9% over the comparable 2004 period, with net profits flat at $3.3 billion.
Last year, Sears, Roebuck and Kmart united under the name Sears Holding and now reports as that company, although same-store sales data for the two companies is still available at this time.
In order to present a comprehensive picture of Sears Holding operations, Kids Today is reporting pro forma results for the giant retailer. Pro forma results reflect the union of Kmart and Sears as if it took place at the beginning of 2004, rather than the start of 2005. By utilizing pro forma data, results from the year-earlier and latest quarters become comparable.
For the second quarter in a row, Internet retailer Baby Universe was first in revenue growth — 80.3%, nearly double its third-quarter growth of 47.9%. Baby Universe was also one of just two companies to have double-digit growth in the latest quarter. Bed Bath & Beyond's revenue growth was 14.8%.
And Baby Universe is poised to repeat its revenue growth: it acquired Posh Tots at the beginning of the year.
Once again mega-retailer Wal-Mart added the most dollars to its coffers: up $7.2 billion in revenues in the fourth quarter of 2005 compared with the last quarter of 2004. The second largest retailer on the scorecard — Target — also added the second largest dollar amount, just over $1 billion in revenues.
This is the second consecutive quarter that Target has added at least $1 billion in revenues compared with the year-earlier period.
The leader in profit-dollar accumulation was once again Wal-Mart, up $425 million in the fourth quarter of 2005 compared with the same quarter in 2004. J.C. Penney came in next, adding $218 million in earnings, followed by Target's $114 million increase.
The largest percentage gain in net income belonged to J.C. Penney, which added 65.5% in profit dollars in the latest quarter. Target, Wal-Mart and Sears also achieved double-digit growth in earnings.
Bed Bath & Beyond won the same-store sales growth prize, up 6.3%, beating out second-place Target's 4.2%. As an Internet retailer, Baby Universe doesn't have same-store sales figures, which generally measure sales growth in stores open for more than one year.
Bed Bath & Beyond repeated as the return-on-revenues champ by posting a score of 11.7%, up from its 9.3% result in the third quarter of this year. J.C. Penney was second, with a ROR of 8.9% in the latest quarter.
The number of the companies on the Kids Today quarterly retail scorecard is dwindling: Toys "R" Us and ShopKo Stores have both completed merger agreements that have taken them private. Also joining the ranks of the privately-held is textiles specialist Linens 'n Things.
Kids Today's third-quarter retailer scorecard is based on the financial results of eight publicly traded companies with fiscal quarters ending from Dec. 31, 2005 to Feb. 28, 2006.
| Retailer | Same store sales |
| Bed Bath & Beyond | 6.3% |
| Target | 4.2% |
| Burlington Coat Factory | 3.5% |
| Wal-Mart1 | 3.1% |
| J.C. Penney2 | 2.6% |
| Kmart | 0.9% |
| Linens 'n Things | -2.2% |
| Sears | -12.2% |
| 1. For U.S. stores. Includes same-store sales of 2.7% at Wal-Mart Stores and 5.1% at Sam's Club. 2. For department stores. Source: Company reports | |
| Qtr. | revenue in millions | net income in millions | return on revenues | ||||||
| Retailer | ended | 2005 | 2004 | change | 2005 | 2004 | Change | 2005 | 2004 |
| Wal-Mart | 1/31 | $90,127.01 | $82,899.01 | 8.7% | $3,589.0 | $3,164.0 | 13.4% | 4.0% | 3.8% |
| Target | 2/28 | $16,947.02 | $15,914.02 | 6.5% | $939.0 | $825.03 | 13.8% | 5.5% | 5.2% |
| Sears Holding4 | 2/28 | $16,086.0 | $16,844.0 | -4.5% | $648.05 | $589.05 | 10.0% | 4.0% | 5.2% |
| J.C. Penney | 2/28 | $6,203.0 | $5,955.0 | 4.2% | $551.06 | $333.06 | 65.5% | 8.9% | 5.6% |
| Bed Bath & Beyond | 2/25 | $1,685.3 | $1,467.6 | 14.8% | $197.9 | $181.0 | 9.4% | 11.7% | 12.3% |
| Burlington Coat Factory | 2/25 | $1,032.07 | $975.67 | 5.8% | $58.3 | $66.78 | -12.6% | 5.7% | 6.8% |
| Linens 'n Things | 12/31 | $921.2 | $875.7 | 5.2% | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA |
| Baby Universe | 12/31 | $8.2 | $4.5 | 80.3% | ($0.0) | $0.1 | — | -0.3% | 2.8% |
| TOTAL | $133,009.7 | $114,041.5 | 16.6% | $5,983.2 | $4,878.8 | 22.6% | 4.5% | 4.3% | |
| Note: Figures in parentheses are losses or declines. For comparative purposes, quarters ending between Dec. 31, 2005, and Feb. 28, 2006, are referred to as the 2005 quarter, and the comparable year-earlier quarters as the 2004 quarter. NA: Not available as of press time. 1. Includes non-sales income of $854 million in the 2005 quarter and $683 million in the 2004 quarter. 2. Includes net credit revenues of $377 million in the 2005 quarter and $317 million in the 2004 quarter. 3. Includes a $16 million net gain on the disposal of discontinued operations. 4. Represents the combined results of Kmart and Sears as though the companies had been combined as of the beginning of 2004. 5. Includes pretax gains on the sales of assets of $14 million in the 2005 quarter and $36 million in the 2004 quarter and pretax bankruptcy-related recoveries of $7 million in the 2005 quarter and $46 million in the 2004 quarter. The 2005 quarter also includes a $317 million pretax gain on the sale of business and a $7 million pretax restructuring charge. 6. Includes net income from discontinued operations of $101 million in the 2005 quarter and $9 million in the 2004 quarter. 7. Includes non-sales income of $8.4 million in the 2005 quarter and $7.5 million in the 2004 quarter. 8. Includes $603,000 in net income from discontinued operations. Source: Company reports and Kids Today market research | |||||||||
