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Monday, April 12, 2010

If Only, If Only: Talbots Stock Encore

About a year ago, I wrote that I was thinking about buying Talbots stock. Not because I shop there, but because the blogs of "women of a certain age," were discussing how nice the revamped clothing line was. At the time, the stock was around $1.80 a share, owing to its feature as a "scary Halloween" stock by the experts, the Motley Fools.

Well! Today what do I see but a discussion in the Wall Street Journal about how the stock is now a Wall Street darling.

This is subscriber-only content, so you're not going to be able to see the whole thing. Needless to say, I googled for the stock price: $14.31. I was only going to buy 100 shares, but still, a couple of hundred dollars would be a nice bit of lagniappe in the budget.

Back in my first post on this, I wondered if we women should put our money into stock instead of (or in addition to) the clothing. It does seem that we were noticing SOMETHING that, as it turned out, eluded the "experts."

So ladies (and gentlemen), let's take our financial destiny into our own hands. As Emerson says, "Trust thyself."


P.S. I have no stock recommendations to make at this time.

5 comments:

Duchesse said...

A volatile, risky sector. Talbots still has to win that younger, hipper market without alienating its core.

I am most pleased with the work of the investment experts working for us for the last 25 years.

hostess of the humble bungalow said...

If you have money to play with I say follow your instincts....vary that portfolio and see what happens...save some for a splurge now and then!

Shelley said...

I have read that women know what other women like and this is one argument for buying stock on that basis. On the other hand, there's all that business about having a diversified portfolio, so you would need to know about a lot of different areas in order to manage that, not just 'girly' stuff. Me, I'm sticking with index linked funds these days. I notice those professionals get their money whether they pick right or not...

Funny about Money said...

That's encouraging. I mean, on the investment front.

I guess it's true, then, that marketing to the under-35 set is better for business than marketing to boomers. Talbots' new line rarely includes anything I want to wear, and when it does, the stuff doesn't fit. That doesn't leave many places to shop, since Talbots was the only place that marketed slacks that fit and skirts, tops, and dresses that looked good on me.

Wouldn't you think that, given the size of our cohort, there'd be enough profit in catering to grown-ups that someone would be selling to middle-income boomer women who want to wear clothes that don't have to be dry-cleaned, don't make you look like a dowdy granma or a streetwalker, and don't cost an arm and a leg?

Duchesse said...

Funny: That was what the the Gap spinoff Forth & Towne but they didn't make it. Chico's is definitely aiming for that market too (not my taste, personally but they have a statedmission to serve 40 and ups.)