Top 10 Sliver Companies To Invest In Right Now

Top 10 Sliver Companies To Invest In Right Now: Williams-Sonoma Inc.(WSM)

Williams-Sonoma, Inc. operates as a specialty retailer of home products. It offers culinary and serving equipment, including cookware, cookbooks, cutlery, informal dinnerware, glassware, table linens, specialty foods, and cooking ingredients; and bridal and gift items under the Williams-Sonoma brand name. The company also provides home furnishing categories, including furniture, textiles, decorative accessories, lighting, and tabletop items under the West Elm brand name; bed and bath products under the Pottery Barn brand name; and children?s furnishings and accessories under the Pottery Barn Kids brand name. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. sells its home products through four retail store concepts, which include Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids, and West Elm; six direct-mail catalogs that comprise Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids, Pottery Barn Bed and Bath, PBteen, and West Elm; and six e-commerce Websites, which consist of williams-sonoma.com, potte rybarn.com, potterybarnkids.com, pbteen.com, westelm.com, and wshome.com. As of January 30, 2011, it operated 592 stores, including 260 Williams-Sonoma, 193 Pottery Barn, 85 Pottery Barn Kids, 36 West Elm, and 18 outlet stores located in 44 states of the United States; Washington, D.C.; Canada; and Puerto Rico. The company was founded in 1956 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Grace L. Williams]

  It wouldn’t be much of a shock. In an article earlier today, MarketWatch reporter Andria Cheng notes that industry rivals including Pier 1 Imports (PIR), the Container Store (TCS) and Williams-Sonoma (WSM) lowered their profit or sales outlooks. Cheng also notes that Bed Bach & Beyond had cut its outlook in June to $1.08 a share from $1.16. She continues:

• [By Ben Le! visohn]

  Shares of Williams-Sonoma (WSM) have tumbled today after the home-products retailer offered a disappointing outlook even as it met second-quarter earnings forecasts.

  Williams-Sonoma reported a profit of 53 cents a share, in line with estimates, on revenue of $1.04 billion, also meeting expectations. That alone would probably have been enough to send Williams-Sonoma’s shares lower since they were trading near a 52-week high right before the release. Throw in the sour guidance–Williams-Sonoma expected to earn $3.07 to $3.17 a share in 2014, below forecasts for $3.21–and you have the recipe for destruction.

  Williams-Sonoma’s shares have dropped 11% to $66.75 at 10:20 a.m. Morgan Stanley’s Simeon Gutman and team explain why they downgraded Williams-Sonoma’s shares to Equal Weight despite the stock getting pounded today:

  While Q2 EPS was solid and in-line, we were expecting a carry-over in top-line momentum from previous quarters and comparable brand growth in the high single digits. We did not get this (Q2 comparable brand growth +5.7%), due to competition and tougher compares and now no longer believe the business will generate this level of growth in the near-term. Valuation (19x 2015e earnings) is not as supportive of a business that we now see generating low teens growth over the next 12 months.

  Williams-Sonoma’s PEG rate was elevated recently given positive earnings surprises. The PEG rate rose to ~1.6x vs. the one year average at 1.45x and the three year average of 1.3x. With earnings growth accelerating, this seemed appropriate and we believed these valuation levels would continue. But, with the rate of change moderating (albeit still healthy) the PEG may come back in. Even after tonight's stock move, there could be 2 turns of EPS multiple risk. The stock does not necessarily have much downside, but it could mark time as near-term earnings growth is digested.

  Gutman also lowere

• [By Andrew ! Marder]

  Bed Bath & Beyond competes with companies such as Williams-Sonoma (NYSE: WSM  ) and Pier 1 Imports  (NYSE: PIR  ) . Both of those businesses have a higher P/E ratio than Bed Bath & Beyond, though Williams-Sonoma's is on the rise, while Pier 1's is falling.

• [By Peter Graham]

  The Q1 2014 earnings report for Restoration Hardware Holdings Inc (NYSE: RH), a potential peer of other furniture or home décor retailers like Williams-Sonoma, Inc (NYSE: WSM), Bed Bath & Beyond Inc (NASDAQ: BBBY) and Pier 1 Imports Inc (NYSE: PIR), is scheduled for after the market closes on Wednesday. Aside from the Restoration Hardware Holdings earnings report, it should be said that Bed Bath & Beyond Inc reported Q4 2013 earnings on April 9th (shares dropped after profit forecast trails estimates) and will report Q1 2014 June 23rd; Pier 1 Imports Inc will report Q1 2015 earnings on Monday, June 16th; and Williams-Sonoma, Inc reported Q1 2014 earnings on May 21st (comparable brand revenues grow 10%, operating income grows 17% and EPS increased 20% to $0.48). All of these stocks are a potential play on a housing recovery plus Restoration Hardware Holdings gave a strong guidance the last time it reported earnings.

source from Top Stocks For 2015:http://www.topstocksblog.com/top-10-sliver-companies-to-invest-in-right-now.html