Liz Claiborne, Inc. (NYSE:LIZ)

Short Watchlist

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2012/01/11/liz-claibornes-identity-crisis-in-2012.aspx

Insiders, float Short.

Keeping my focus within my sphere of knowledge. I think Liz will continue to struggle as it's caught between two conflicting forces. First is its agent agreement with Li & Fung which is a public company listed in HK. Li and Fung's primary source of manufacturing is Asia. As inflation on that continent increase, so will costs and Li & Fung isn't going to be the one taking the hit on that. They're simply going to tell Liz "Here's the price" and Liz will be paying a % of it to Li & Fung. And it's not like Liz can shop around since according to their annual report they pretty locked in. Further conflict of interest is that Li&Fung owns brands that they sell to dept stores themselves. It's in their best interest to use their best suppliers and lock up the most affordable raw material prices for their own brands.

If that wasn't bad enough Liz also has to contend with their retail partners JC Penney and QVC. While I'm not a retail expert I know that retailers these days aren't partners with their wholesale sources. They will squeeze first and ask questions later. They may even be justified in doing so given Liz's challenges in sourcing quality product at reasonable prices that I mentioned above.

Finally they're operating from a position of weakness when their fundamental focus has to be on managing their brands and merchandising. Their exec's are busy trying to manage cash flow and are probably distracted. It's a vicious little cycle. Soon they'll be selling brands to raise money.

With the economy picking up, consumers are bound to spend on something and garments is one of the most common items. Its bound to go up!!

Short interest is 30% of the float.

Liz Claiborne, Inc. (LIZ) designs and markets a portfolio of branded women's and men's apparel, accessories and fragrance products. Brands include CLAIBORNE, CURVE, CRAZY HORSE, DANA BUCHMAN, ELISABETH, EMMA, JAMES, FIRST ISSUE and RUSS.

LIZ fits my three ten criteria.
I'm not too crazy about the way it's chart looks, but I do like that there is a nice volume increase on up-days.
I also have to trust my three ten.
Definitely, a long term pick.

Liz Claiborne, Inc. (LIZ)
The Company designs and markets a portfolio of branded women's and men's apparel, accessories and fragrance products. Brands include CLAIBORNE, CURVE, CRAZY HORSE, DANA BUCHMAN, ELISABETH, EMMA, JAMES, FIRST ISSUE and RUSS.

LIZ is down 49% off its 52W high, but up approx. 100% from its March 2009 low.
My kind of value play.

interesting stock
but ps is low
no data for return on equity

Like the new deal - conservative, but with it the stock is worth some of its salt.

LIZ CLAIBORNE is a very undervalued stock considering the many top-notch brand names they have on their customer list.

With such a low price, the stock is ripe for a takeover bid which should be in the low-10's at least.

There was a tie-up recently with JC Penny but no takeover (yet). Sooner or later, someone will see the potential in this stock and I feel if you buy CALL OPTIONS immediately with strike price of 10 for expiry in Jan'10, you will thank me for the rest of your life.

Saif

Wall street is discounting this stock for it's debt. Already priced in economic struggles leaves a nice upside during recovery.

Liz Claiborne Inc. is nothing more than a short-term dying cash cow. The exclusive contract they just signed with J.C Penny and QVC will only bloat your stock numbers for a few days max. Unless there is extensive restructuring of management or some kind of flawless ad campaign coming soon, I see nothing more than a day traders play thing for a few hours.

-Chris

Consumer confidence increasing

Falling 50-day moving average and one of the largest intraday high-low ranges (based on the average percent spread between the intraday high and low over the last fifty days).

Still have a product people want. Cutting costs... basically discout fashion now... in discount times, but with a name.

This may be my last chance to short this stock (again).
I expect a spring bankruptcy sale.

Under valued

Tuff times ahead for specialty retail