Sometimes, all the reasons others are shunning a company are the same reasons to initiate a position in it.

Take Fred’s, Inc. (NASDAQ:FRED), for instance, a deep-discount retailer with 600 stores in 15 southeastern states. Investors have punished the stock, sending it to levels that value it less than half of its competitors.

It’s differentiator is serving low-income customers in rural and inner-city neighborhoods, far from Target and Walmart stores. Many customers prefer the ease of access to Fred’s stores, as opposed to having to drive to the nearest big box retailer.

With annual sales of $1.8 billion, its merchandise and business model is similar to that of its two biggest competitors: Dollar Tree (NASDAQ:DLTR) and Family Dollar Stores, Inc.(NYSE:FDO).

But that’s where the similarities end. In the past year, Fred’s shares have fallen nearly 15% while its competitors have each risen over 20%. The reason? The company was just plodding

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Fred’s, Inc. (Nasdaq: FRED): Stock of the Day

by David Fessler, Advisory Panelist

Sometimes, all the reasons others are shunning a company are the same reasons to initiate a position in it.

Take Fred’s, Inc. (NASDAQ:FRED), for instance, a deep-discount retailer with 600 stores in 15 southeastern states. Investors have punished the stock, sending it to levels that value it less than half of its competitors.

It’s differentiator is serving low-income customers in rural and inner-city neighborhoods, far from Target and Walmart stores. Many customers prefer the ease of access to Fred’s stores, as opposed to having to drive to the nearest big box retailer.

With annual sales of $1.8 billion, its merchandise and business model is similar to that of its two biggest competitors: Dollar Tree (NASDAQ:DLTR) and Family Dollar Stores, Inc. (NYSE:

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Dollar Tree Inc. (...

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL - June 15, 2009 - Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Johnson & Johnson, Inc. (JNJ), Family Dollar (FDO), Dollar Tree (DLTR), Wal-Mart (WMT) and Costco (COST).

Get the most recent insight from Zacks Equity Research with the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=4579.

Here are highlights from Friday's Analyst Blog:

J&J Remains Undervalued

Johnson & Johnson, Inc. (JNJ) currently trades at 12.5x our 2009 EPS estimate of $4.51. We believe J&J's diverse and deep product mix, lack of cyclicality, strong financial position and consistent record of earnings growth will insulate it from a prolonged

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Much of what we buy in retail stores is imported from outside the US. Those goods are typically shipped to one of our nation's ports. Tracking the activity of those ports gives us a good idea about how optimistic or pessimistic retailers are with import orders. An excellent source for this information is Port Tracker.Port Tracker is published by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and IHS Global Insight. It looks at inbound container volume, the availability of trucks and railroad cars to move cargo out of the ports, labor conditions and other factors that affect cargo movement and congestion. It provides valuable insight to what retailers are ordering and how much merchandise they plan to stock on their shelves. Access to the full report requires an NRF subscription. Information can be found here.According to the June 9 Port Tracker report, import cargo volume at ...

Retailers Expected to Remain CautiousMuch of what we buy in retail stores is imported from outside the US. Those goods are typically shipped to one of our nation's ports. Tracking the activity of those ports gives us a good idea about how optimistic or pessimistic retailers are with import orders. An excellent source for this information is Port Tracker.Port Tracker is published by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and IHS Global Insight. It looks at inbound container volume, the availability of trucks and railroad cars to move cargo out of the ports, labor conditions and other factors that affect cargo movement and congestion. It provides valuable insight to what retailers are ordering and how much merchandise they plan to stock on their shelves. Access to the full report requires an NRF subscription. Information can be found here.According to the June 9 Port ...

Will Frugality Remain?

Alexander Wissel, Editor in Chief, Investment U

We’ve heard how over the past few months Americans have closed their wallets and started saving more. The national savings rate has climbed for the first time in decades.

This newfound zeal for saving money has been a boon for many companies that help consumers save or cut back. Companies like Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX), Rewards Network (Nasdaq: DINE) and Wal-Mart Stores (NYSE: WMT) have thrived on cost conscious consumers.

The question is how long can this last?

The latest reports from Gallup have noted a trend for consumers spending less. But are the cost cutbacks voluntary or forced. Consumers cutting back to be frugal is quite different from bargain shopping because you have to.

Time will tell if this

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New Bull Market? Lock in those Gains…

by Investment U Research Team

We haven’t talked about selling stocks at a gain for quite some time. And we all know the reason why – there haven’t been many to talk about. But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t any. In fact, the markets have been up over the last week. 

For many who have become comfortable with their bear market portfolio, prepare to be unnerved.

The companies many investors have used as defensive plays have performed very well – compared to the rest of the market. But that doesn’t mean that these stocks will continue to move that way. If we have a new bull, things will change. And fast.

Traders like to use the word “overbought” to describe when, in their opinion, a stock has risen too fast or is overextended. Any company can become

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Last week I posted about the direction of the blog, and the format in which most of the content was heading. Because of market conditions, my posting has been a lot of news and stories, with my own take on them. I've been doing my best to look at individual stocks and sectors to analyze and discuss. So today, I'll share my watch list, or the current stocks on my radar. Keep in mind, these aren't all stocks I'm looking to buy, but names I'm keeping an eye on. I often watch specific stocks to see how they react in different markets and sometimes use them as indicators of strength or weakness in other potential names. If I have similar stocks, I'll post them together. So here goes...br /br /ABB (a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=abb"ABB/a). Diversified electrical company with a great reach. I think they'll ...

Throughout this consumer-led recession, we've seen the trading-down from specialty goods and name brands to generic goods and discount items, not out of choice, but necessity. Wal-Mart (a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=wmt"WMT/a) has seen strong sales, and that trend should continue. But I'd take it a step further and take look at dollar stores. Family Dollar (a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=fdo"FDO/a) a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSTRE5062TB20090107"posted strong results/a and raised their profit outlook. There aren't many companies doing that right now. br /br /span style="font-style: italic;""The company expects full-year sales to rise 4 percent to 6 percent, up from a prior outlook of 3 percent to 5 percent. On a same-store basis, it forecast a sales gain of 2 percent to 4 percent; it previously called for a rise of 1 percent to 3 percent."/spanbr /br /Dollar Tree (a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=DLTR"DLTR/a) would be another similar company. These companies appear to be some ...