what about the officers? Directors buying is suspicious. they are paid to do nothing, so when the company asks them to buy shares, there is probably a quid pro quo ie buy shares or else we kick you off the board. Anyway, there is $600mm of debt. Does anyone think this will generate $600mm of free cash flow in the next ten years? as it competes with WMT, AMZN etc?
The argument its cheaper to buy on Amazon is very true, until you pay the shipping and handling. I was looking for a HDMI cable costs $1, with shipping, handling, tax ( CO taxes internet purchases) it came out to be $9. That's still cheaper but not by as much as you would think. And then I have to wait up to 5 days whereas with brick and mortar I get instant gratification, which is what America loves.
Buying for a short squeeze maybe. Last I looked something like 40% of Radioshack's shares are sold short. They have to cover eventually. Being affiliated with who they are I bet they could plead ignorance. "It got cheap so I bought it and I sold it when it went up!....get off my case!" Lol
After thinking about it, Apple made more profit from selling probably 20,000 cell phones than Radioshack made on over $4,000,000,000 revenue. That's rough.
Off topic but if you don't need instant gratification and want someone in the US then http://www.monoprice.com should be your first look for cables, excellent prices and reasonable shipping (USPS). If you are willing to wait then http://www.meritline.com/ and http://www.dealextreme.com/ - free shipping on everything from both ...ships from China so be prepared to wait at least 2 weeks...takes so long that by the time you get it you will have forgotten you ordered something I always buy extra cables when they are go on sale (when I don't need them) so I never have to waste my time driving and getting ripped off buying them locally. Last 3 pack of 6' HDMI cables cost me $7.50 from Meritline (193-496-001) Back on topic, I used to love RS as a kid but as others have pointed out they just don't have enough of an edge anymore and I very rarely go there..sad..I don't see any way they don't go under, just a question of when not if.
I have bought two items at radio shack in the last 10 years. Both times it was an item I wanted right now and I had angry kids in the car. The only reason I didn't go to walmart was that I didn't want to hear my kids scream any more. I left radio shack feeling violated and deciding that next time I would endur the screaming and not pay $20 for a <$5.00 walmart cable. The monthly RSH chart says it all IMO.
Has anyone here also read their earnings? How can they be so bad? Its as if they haven't sold anything! Also, I bought a soldering gun from rs this summer. It said on the box, "patent pending in: west Germany"
They were doing ok as a master wireless/cellphone dealer until a decade ago when the wireless companies began to fully roll out their own retail stores. They need a new business plan fast as the electronic hobbyist market is dying off with the boomers and the new generation is too busy with rap music and xbox. Buying the stock with an assumption of a short covering rally may be premature. The economic situation now is worse than pre-housing crisis economy with higher unemployment and the banks taking on uncontrolled risks knowing they can siphon out middle class taxes to bail them out.
It's because their parts are very expensive and people can get them online for very inexpensive. Lots of punks these days, but there were also lots of drug dummy hippies before.