CHICAGO, Oct. 11, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT), Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA), Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT), Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) and AT&T (NYSE: T).
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Here are highlights from Monday's Analyst Blog:
Target Sales Exceed Expectations
Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT), the operator of general merchandise and food discount stores in the United States, recently posted healthy sales results for the five-week period ended October 1, 2011.
The rise in comparable store sales was above management's expectation, and reflected an increase in average transaction size. The company witnessed an increase in beauty products, groceries and attires sales.
Target registered an increase of 5.3% in comparable store sales for September 2011 compared with 4.1% and 1.3% growth witnessed in the previous month and the prior-year period, respectively. Year-to-date, comparable store sales spiked 3.4% versus a 2.1% increase in the prior-year period.
Minneapolis, Minnesota-based Target Corporation announced that net retail sales for September rose 6.5% to $5,923 million from $5,562 million reported in the prior-year period. Year-to-date, sales climbed 4.5% to $42,690 million.
Target's efficient marketing, multi-channel strategy, innovative product offering, compelling pricing strategy and new merchandise assortments are expected to drive comparable store sales and operating margins over the long term. We expect the company to gain market share, and believe that the focus on consumable items should boost sales and earnings amidst a sluggish consumer environment.
Target is currently emphasizing on store renovations, enhancing store sales productivity, introducing smaller format stores, and eyeing opportunities to expand in international markets.
Comcast to Expand Xfinity TV
Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA), the largest cable MSO of the U.S., is on the verge of a nationwide deployment of its next-generation Xfinity TV set-top boxes. Xfinity TV is an on-demand, web-based service for subscribers to both its video programming and Internet access.
This on-demand online service is basically a broadband video service that will enable pay-TV subscribers to watch premium cable programming online over broadband networks. Subscribers of Comcast can now watch several cable TV shows and movies over the Internet.
The new Xfinity TV set-top box will have an innovative negation system that will enable subscribers to quickly navigate between live and on-demand programming. A new user interface will incorporate content from Facebook, Pandora Internet Radio, news, and weather applications. Earlier, Comcast entered into an agreement with Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) to enable its subscribers to access Xfinity TV Everywhere online content from the Microsoft Xbox.
Comcast commands more than a 25% share of the U.S. cable TV market. Nevertheless, in recent times, the broader entertainment, information, & communications segment has become highly competitive. Competition arises from both within the industry and large telecom operators.
Telecom giant Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) with FiOS TV services and AT&T (NYSE: T) with U-verse TV services are significantly eating into the market share of cable TV operators. Comcast is hoping to stall this trend to some extent with its new Xfinity TV set-top boxes.
A major concern for the pay-TV industry is the prolonged macro-economic volatility in the U.S. Unemployment rate is high, which has resulted in lower disposable income for households.
Cable TV operators are very dependent on new households to strengthen their client base and Comcast is no exception. In the previous quarter, the company lost a whopping 238,000 residential video subscribers, the highest within the cable TV industry.
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