Home Depot: Sigoloff's unsung legacy

• Black Friday 2009 thwarts shopping habits, and sleep too

  I've been reading Credit Suisse (CS) analyst Gary Balter's reports on hardline retailers since the mid-'90s, when I wrote about companies like Home Depot (HD) and Sears (SHLD). Balter is not only a savvy analyst. He's also a very good writer. This morning at 7:17, Balter emailed this note to clients about Black Friday shopping, which he titled "Bring Back the Good Old Days."  I'm on his email list, so MORE

  Patricia Sellers - Nov 25, 2009 12:28 PM ET
  Posted in: Best Buy, consumer goods, Gary Balter, Home Depot, Postcards, retail, Staples, Wal-Mart

• Home Depot CFO's turnaround tips

  Home Depot (HD) hammered it home this morning--earnings beat expectations, and the stock is up 3%, to just under $27. Nice surprise after Lowe's (LOW) disappointed yesterday. The No. 2 home-improvement retailer reported a 19% profit dip in its second quarter and, even more worrisome to investors, a 9.5% decline in same-store sales.

  So what is Home Depot, the market leader, doing right? The new Fortune, hitting newsstands this week, delivers MORE

  Patricia Sellers - Aug 18, 2009 2:19 PM ET
  Posted in: boards, Brands, Carol Tome, consumer goods, earnings, finance, FORTUNE MPWomen, Home Depot, Lowe's, Postcards, retail, UPS

• Hope amid retail's rough week

  It was, to steal a Malcolm Gladwell term, a "tipping point" in my outlook on the cratering economy. I call it my "That Girl" moment.

  It was the fourth Monday in November last year. I was at a Thanksgiving party at the home of Cathie Black, the president of Hearst Magazines. Marlo Thomas was there, too. "Saks is selling shoes for 75% off. It's incredible!" TV's onetime Ann Marie was crowing, MORE

  Patricia Sellers - Feb 27, 2009 1:01 PM ET
  Posted in: Amazon, Cathie Black, CEOs, consumer goods, earnings, economy, Eddie Lampert, FORTUNE MPWomen, Hearst, Home Depot, Ken Bronfin, Kindle, Lowe's, management, media, mike duke, Postcards, Power Shift, publishing, retail, Saks, Sears, telecom, Wal-Mart

• Power Point: Don't dig a bigger hole

  "We have a bunch of idiots on Wall Street that are kicking sand in the face of the American taxpayer."

  -- Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Missouri, on the floor of the Senate Friday. McCaskill introduced legislation stipulating that no employee of any company that accepts federal bailout money be allowed to earn more than the President of the United States. Obama's annual salary is $400,000. The bill came a day after Obama MORE

  Jessica Shambora, Writer-Reporter - Jan 30, 2009 7:28 PM ET
  Posted in: AT&T, Barack Obama, Boeing, caterpillar, economy, finance, Home Depot, job losses, Leadership by Geoff Colvin, Pfizer, politics, Postcards, Power Point, senate, Starbucks, stock market, Wall Street, Washington

• Power Point: Bring back the jobs

  "Most of the money we're investing as part of this plan will get out the door immediately and go directly to job creation, generating or saving 3 to 4 million new jobs. And the vast majority of these jobs will be created in the private sector -- because, as these CEOs well know, business, not government, is the engine of growth in this country."

  -- President Barack Obama to business leaders, MORE

  Jessica Shambora, Writer-Reporter - Jan 28, 2009 7:14 PM ET
  Posted in: AOL, Barack Obama, Boeing, caterpillar, Home Depot, jobs, Leadership by Geoff Colvin, Pfizer, politics, Postcards, Power Point, President, sprint nextel, Starbucks, Time Warner, Washington

• Silda Wall Spitzer's personal passion

  We've been talking quite a bit about philanthropy here on Postcards. I like that. I hope you do too. Last week, I published Jennifer Buffett's Guest Post and told you about Melinda Gates. Here's another not-for-profit pioneer whose efforts derive from personal passion: Silda Wall Spitzer.

  A dozen years ago, Spitzer couldn't find many ways for her three young daughters to perform community service. Now her daughters are on the way MORE

  Patricia Sellers - Sep 12, 2008 2:46 PM ET
  Posted in: Bank of America, Barack Obama, Charity Navigator, Children for Children, Eliot Spitzer, Goldman Scahs, Guest Post, Home Depot, John McCain, Leadership by Geoff Colvin, media, not-for-profit, Personal Power, philanthropy, politics, Postcards, ServiceNation, Silda Wall Spitzer, Target, volunteerism, youth service

• Rationality pays in retail

  I've talked on Postcards about the greatest sins of the big retailers: believing that if you build it, they will come. That focus on growth at all costs has hurt Starbucks (SBUX) and Home Depot (HD), whose stocks have just recently risen risen off of 52-week lows. Speaking of lows, there is Lowe's (LOW), which announced earnings Monday morning: down 8% in the second quarter. But thanks to solid expense MORE

  Patricia Sellers - Aug 18, 2008 1:23 PM ET
  Posted in: Bennigan's, CEOs, Chapter 11, consumer goods, Corporate Express, Credit Suisse, CXP, earnings, Gary Balter, HD, Home Depot, Houston, LOW, Lowe's, management, ODP, Office Depot, Office Max, OMX, Postcards, Power Shift, retail, Ron Sargent, SBUX, SPLS, Staples, Starbucks, Wall Street

• Why Starbucks is hitting the wall

  The news that Starbucks (SBUX) will close 600 stores and lay off as many as 12,000 employees is not only the news that Wall Street was waiting for. It is inevitable. One thing I've learned from my 24 years following retailers for Fortune is this: Every retailer that expands across the U.S. hits the wall on growth eventually. And every retail entrepreneur, no matter how talented, is eventually exposed as MORE

  Patricia Sellers - Jul 2, 2008 12:35 PM ET
  Posted in: 1-800-got-junk, Arthur Blank, Bernie Marcus, Blockbuster, Bob Nardell, CEO, CEOs, Chevron, Circuit City, Dow, Eddie Lampert, FORTUNE MPWomen, Frank Blake, GE, General Electric, Home Depot, Howard Schultz, IBM, Jim Donald, Kmart, Launi Skinner, Leadership by Geoff Colvin, management, McDonald's, Postcards, Power Shift, retail, Sam Walton, Sears, Starbucks, Wal-Mart, Wall Street