Anyone buying shares of KMart? (1 Viewer)

[Dennis Reno]

I did yesterday at $0.80/share. I don't see this being a stock to quickly turnover, but rather a long-term bet that they will be able to turn things around.

 

[SteveA]

K-Mart is toast. Most analysts believe they will be forced to go out of business within 2 years. If you want to buy stock, I'd suggest one of K-Mart's competitors, or even Amazon.

 

[MickeS]

I think it's toast too, but a hundred shares for $80 might be a decent bet still. I wouldn't buy more than that though...

/Mike

 

[MikeAlletto]

Never would I buy Kmart stock...for one simple reason. I don't know anyone that shops there anymore. Stores are always closing up. So if no one goes there and there aren't any stores...its over. Why shop kmart when there are walmarts or targets everywhere (although I don't like going to walmart either).

 

[MickeS]

Why shop kmart when there are walmarts or targets everywhere (although I don't like going to walmart either).

Wal-Mart is Pure Hell. Going in there is like going into a charicature of everything that is wrong with America. Plus, have you noticed how every message here about bad drivers seem to begin or end with "and then the person drove into the Wal-Mart parking lot."
Target is really nice, but a little pricier than K-Mart, and they don't have a lot of food.
I love shopping at K-Mart, at least the stores near me, since they're always clean and tidy, and have a friendly staff.
/Mike

 

[Dave Poehlman]

Hell, I just bought Enron! I don't mean the stock.. I mean I just bought the whole company!

Oh... wait... I left my wallet in my other pants.

 

[Scott Dautel]

I love shopping at K-Mart, at least the stores near me, since they're always clean and tidy, and have a friendly staff.

You're kidding right? If there is one constant I've found in this country, it's that EVERY K-Mart is a mess ... dirty floors, merchandise scattered all over, stacked boxes in every aisle (try shopping there with a double-wide stroller, HA!) and shopping carts everywhere. Oh, and for ~50% of the merchandise, you have to guess what the price is.

They cram stacks of merchandise into every square inch of the floor and it all looks like the Tazmanian devil just went thru.

One major problem (of many) is employee attitude ... at Christmas time I went in to buy a toy. It was a Harry Potter Robot Dragon. I had remembered seeing it earlier for $25, this time ... no price. I got to the register and it rang up at $40., so I said I didn't want it. The clerk literally threw it 10' on the floor in the corner (not mad mind you, just lazy!) I'm almost certain it broke. It often looks like everything in the store has been returned at least once. I can't imagine their losses on broken, dirty & damaged merchandise.

The other day my 5 year says ..."I hate K-Mart, its a mess and there's junk all over the floor, lets go to Target". Now if a 5 year old can figure it out, why can't the CEO!

[/rant]

Scott

 

[DaveF]

Beware buying bankrupt company stocks, even if they have a long history.

I learned this the hard way when I bought Fruit of the Loom stocks about two years ago. They had serious problems, and the stock dropped to about a buck a share. I thought, they're a well known brand, and the problems were fixable. So I bought $200 worth.

They tanked. A class-action lawsuit was filed against them by a group of shareholders. They got de-listed from the stock-exchange.

So, yeah, K-Mart could wholly tank. It's definitely not a sure-thing, that they will recover.

 

[Kirk Gunn]

I was in the same boat. Local ASP (App Srv Provider) was the first certified by Microsoft, doing real well. Stock tanked with everyone elses, so I bought at 2.00 as a long term hold.

Suddenly an investment firm from Boston decides to invest 100 mill... everything should be awesome !

However... the investment firm said the only way they would fork over the dough was if the company went Chapt 11 and default on ALL stock. Not sure who would re-invest after losing everything.

Check out stock USIX, now USIXQ. I had faith in USIX' business model, I have non in K-Mart.

 

[Dave Morton]

If I want to take a big gamble then I'll go to the river boats or casino. That seems too much of a risk. I would rather invest in a solid company that has a good track record and good fundamentals. KMart does not appear to have that.

 

[Mike Huay]

I am thinking about buying shares in this Kmart:
www.geocities.com/kmartsux2002
He seems to be doing quite well...
Seriously though, I agree that K Mart is on the way out for good. Count me on the list of persons who would drive out of the way to avoid BigK. 20 mins. more driving for a WalMart: cleaner, had what I was looking for, better prices, Wal Mart has never made it difficult to return things, etc.
I have never seen a clean K Mart either. Every time I went in there I thought "WHAT IS GOiNG ON IN THE HEADS OF THE MANAGEMENT?"
Maybe nothing. I would not buy their stock, they have too much work to do, no money, and they are too late to catch up. Here is a good K Mart article in the economist:
http://www.economist.com/agenda/disp...tory_ID=948832

 

[Kevin T]

.80/share? is that their blue light special?

kevin t

 

[Steve Tannehill]

Yeah, they've had to change their in-store announcements, too:
"Attention K-mart Shopper."

- Steve

 

[Ashley Seymour]

$.80 a share huh. I would'nt consider a purchase till it hit $1.60 a share.

I have never seen a clean K Mart either. Every time I went in there I thought "WHAT IS GOiNG ON IN THE HEADS OF THE MANAGEMENT?"

Reminds me of an old Bill Cosby routine from the 60's. Bill was interviewing the head of a railroad and asked about the problem of all the dirt in the train stations. 'Yes Bill, we do have a problem with dirt in our stations. The public keeps tracking it out'.

 

[Ashley Seymour]

$1.60 a little too low huh? It might be best to wait till it hits $2.00.

 

[Paul_D]

Are you retarded?

Easy there! But still, very bad idea!

 

[WoodyH]

I can't say I'd recommend picking up stock in K-Mart...but 1> I will freely admit I know _nothing_ about the stock market, and 2> I avoid K-Mart like the plague. And Wal-Mart. Not enough experience with Target to say one way or the other.
But...ugh. (shudder) Every time I do walk into either K- or Wal-Mart, I invariably walk out as fast as possible in a worse mood than when I walked in. No offense to anyone here who frequents either store, as I'm about to make a sweeping generalization, but if there's any other place outside of a run-down trailer park that attracts such amazing throngs of pure, undistilled, sterotypical "White Trash", I've yet to run across them - and I hope I never do. Sets my teeth on edge every time. Even the parking lots are enough to make me start getting edgy.
And even if the clientele were better...the merchandise is crap! I'm constantly amazed at the dreck I see on the shelves there...and when people I know have bought stuff there, it seems to be a crapshoot as to whether it works. I'm pretty convinced that companies use the *-Mart stores to offload the dregs of their QC process, and I'm sure I read something a while back about how returns to the *-Mart stores are just tossed back on the shelves for the next unlucky customer to have to fight with.
Not a company I'd want to give any of my money to in any way, shape, or form.
But, then - that's me. YMMV.

 

[Keith_R]

I shop at Wal-Mart . I know a "financial advisor" for Merril Lynch and he told me a story about a client who refused to put stock in Wal-Mart or Target, just K-Mart. The client even gave my friend a long detailed speech about why K-Mart is better than Wal-Mart or Target, looks like he was wrong. I wonder how his portfolio is doing now
Given the little tidbits of advice that I've learned from my friend, I would say to stay away from their stock even as a long term idea. I'd wait it out and see i they start to improve.

 

[Carl Johnson]

I wouldn't risk money on K Mart because I can't imagine a scenario where the chain makes a comeback. It's been years since I was last in a K Mart but all of their stores seem to be older and offer less variety at higher prices than the competition. It would be cheaper to completely eliminate the chain and start from scratch with something new.

 

[Scott Basham]

Did this post die when K-mart started making the comeback?

I'm glad I did't read this post ealier or I may have taken the advice. I bought 1000+ at .91.. today it closed at $1.23 and set to go higher...

Anyone have opinions on how high it will go?