Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technologies are opening up an exciting new world of possibilities for businesses and governments to increase the efficiency of their operations. Introducing innovative new applications and services, RFID allows organizations to securely capture, track and manage their critical assets in real-time. These assets include pallets in a warehouse, goods in a shopping cart, ID tags on students, patients, inmates and even passports, credit cards and other documents.

For the retail industry, RFID not only enables merchants to reduce costs by providing greater visibility of their inventory as it moves across the supply chain into the warehouse and the store, but also provides hands-free identification of the contents in a shopping cart for instant billing and reduced shoplifting.

For the transportation industry, RFID plays a vital role in helping companies reduce the cost of transporting goods by enabling

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The nation’s retail sector is raising a lot of questions. Just about the only thing that is certain is prices won’t be anywhere close to current levels in just a few months. That makes a perfect trading opportunity for options investors.

I love a hometown success story. While it is hard to find much good news in the retail sector these days, one small-cap is proving consistency and experience pays off.

With the amount of competition larger than ever and margins dwindling by the day, running a department store is a tough business.

Earlier this year, investors were wondering if Bon-Ton (NASDAQ:BONT) was headed for bankruptcy court. With revenues plunging and a bottom line scribbled with nine figures of red ink, the chain’s cash pile could only carry it so long.

Over the last eighteen months, shares of the company plummeted from close to $60 to less than $6 late last year.

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Micros Systems (MCRS) designs, manufactures, markets, and services enterprise information solutions for the hospitality and specialty retail industries. Yesterday, the company posted better-than-expected results for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009.

Revenue of $224.2 million was down 12.7% from a year earlier but up 8.7% sequentially. Gross margin for the quarter came in at 53.7%, almost flat with the year-ago period. Net income was $24 million, or 29 cents per share, compared to $30.1 million or 37 cents per share, last year.

During the quarter, Micros recorded a one-time restructuring charge of $3.8 million and an impairment charge of $1.3 million related to investments in auction-rate securities. Excluding non-recurring items, earnings per share (EPS) came in at 36 cents easily beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 29 cents.

For fiscal 2009, revenue of $911.8 million was down 4.4% from a year ago. Net income came in at $99.3

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Headquartered in Columbia, Maryland, Micros Systems Inc. (MCRS) designs, makes, markets and services enterprise information solutions for the hospitality and specialty retail industries. The company is expected to report results for the fourth quarter and fiscal 2009 on Aug. 27.

While Micros stopped providing financial guidance due to management's concern about waning capital spending, it sees the economy stabilizing over the next few quarters. The company expects to end fiscal 2009 with annual revenue in excess of $900 million.

Micros continues to adopt cost-saving measures and projects expenses to come in below $75 million in the fourth quarter. In the long run, it aims to keep operating costs under $70 million through cost-cutting initiatives and achieve operating margin of 20%.

Almost all Micros customers are in the hospitality industry or the specialty retail industry. A number of positive catalysts could lead to improved business fundamentals over the next

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Nike Inc. (NKE), a leading global sportswear and equipment supplier company, has witnessed an unrelenting decline in sales due to the continued economic downturn plaguing the retail industry.   The company reported a decrease in future orders for the past several quarters. Future orders measure customer orders scheduled to be delivered in the coming season. Nike anticipates its future orders to decline by over 5% when it reports its results in September.   The continued softness in the economy has led to a reduction in disposable income and a cut in consumer discretionary spending. Consequently, consumers are more attracted to national and local department stores and discount stores that offer products at fire-sale prices. Major retailers like Foot Locker Inc. (FL) and Hibbett Sports Inc. (HIBB) further anticipate plummeting sales in the coming quarters.   In order to realign its inventory to sales trends, Nike has ...

Optical Systems, Inc. is a leading provider of software and services for the automotive retail industry. The Company develops technology and services designed to maximize productivity and increase profits at auto dealerships. They do this through their operating subsidiary, Automotive Software Designers, Inc. Optical Systems, Inc. trades on the Pink Sheets, and they have their headquarters in Houston, Texas.

The Company’s flagship technology solution, Save-a-Deal, is a turnkey customer relationship management (CRM) tool for auto dealerships. Their business development center (BDC) provides a variety of services designed to help auto dealerships drive traffic to their showroom or Website, retain customers, and generate new income streams. The Company’s BDC can handle incoming sales inquiries, make outbound follow up sales calls to customers and qualified prospects, call/e-mail prospective Internet leads, and drive traffic to a dealership.

Their Save-a-Deal is a comprehensive, fully integrated front office software solution. When properly used, the scalable DMS system

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – August 5, 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: Wal-Mart (WMT), Family Dollar (FDO), TJ Maxx/Marshalls (TJX), The Gap (GPS) and T. Rowe Price (TROW).

Get the most recent insight from Zacks Equity Research with the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=5513

Here are highlights from Tuesday’s Analyst Blog:

Personal Income Falls

If not for government automatic stabilizers and the Stimulus Bill, the overall trend in incomes would be much worse. Demographics are part of the reason that the savings rate is going up, since the Baby Boomers are in a scramble to save for retirement, which

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The pattern of two steps forward and one step back in the economic data took a big step back today with the release of the personal income and spending numbers. Personal income fell by 1.3% for the month, reversing a 1.3% increase in May, and a 0.2% gain in April. Disposable Personal income suffered a 1.3% decline following increases of 1.6% in May and 0.8% in April. The reason for the swing was the timing of some of the Stimulus Act spending. In May, Social Security recipients got an extra one-time $250 payment, which increased personal transfer income by $166.1 billion and caused the May increase. In June, the absence of these one-time payments caused transfer income to fall by $131.7 billion. If one strips out this effect, personal income fell by 0.1% in June after being unchanged in May. Private wages fell by 28.6 billion in June ...

China's Ministry of Commerce has issued a series of standards on skills for employees in the retail industry and the standards are officially put into effect from August 1, 2009. The standards make clear assessment requirements for retail workers, including salespeople, receiving clerks, loss prevention employees, and cashiers. The standards will provide a list, in which assessment [...]

Switzerland-based financial services provider UBS (NYSE: UBS) is reportedly selling its business process outsourcing (BPO) and knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) units. And is said to be in talks with Indian offshoring giants Infosys Technologies Limited (NASDAQ: INFY) and Wipro Limited (NYSE: WIT). The UBS Indian Service Center and UBS Krakow centre has an estimated value of $200 million, reports The Economic Times.

UBS’ decision to sell its BPO and KPO units might not come as a surprise as Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) made the same move when it sold its captives in 2008. But the Switzerland-based bank may have made the decision at the wrong time as Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) predicts the decline in global outsourcing demand is over.

According to TCS chief financial officer Seturaman Mahalingam; “The conditions now are little clearer, in a sense decline in terms of demand that was seen earlier appears to have been arrested.”

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