Stein Mart: A Dividend-Less Turnaround?

Stein Mart (Nasdaq: SMRT) has struggled to keep up in a highly competitive environment owing to woes due to the likes of Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) which not only capture market share but enhance the buy-from-home mentality which pressured same-store sales for most retailers over the past several years.
In response to lower sales and the company's continued reevaluation of its use of cash for investments and shareholder return, SMRT suspended its dividend for the last two quarters and is likely to continue on this course until sales turn around or management feels the best use of cash is for shareholder value rather than investments or paying down its debt load.
A combination of the suspension of dividend and lower sales and profit projections has drawn aggressive downward pressure on share price, pushing down nearly 85% YTD, as investors flee specialty retail stocks alongside a runaway environment from value investors who took advantage of the ~15% yield up until the latest fiscal year.
I believe a look at SMRT's long-term plans to enhance in-store efficiency, boost its online presence and work on improving costs and margins will aid overall prospects for the company.
Expansion Effort: Driving Sales Following the company's change in marketing strategy with a change in marketing agency (to BOHAN) and prioritizing advertising methods, sales have continued on their upward trajectory from years prior throughout a tough retail sales environment with most retailers... Read more

Older articles featuring SMRT: