Value Investing News

Positive

iPhone Continues to Dominate Category Sales at AT&T.

1. What is the best selling phone model right now?

4. Has there been an increase in the number of people opening new accounts or buying the iPhone in the past 3 weeks?

●         Apple iPhone was seen as the best selling phone model over the past week by 73% of respondents. 7% viewed Blackberry as the top selling phone model. The responses suggest that people prefer the iPhone over other phone models.

●         53% of respondents viewed Blackberry as the best device to get for e-mail, while 33% viewed the Apple iPhone as the second best device for email. The Blackberry is known to be a phone for business consumers so it’s not surprising that they dominated the response to this question.

●         Apple iPhone was seen as the top best music device by 63% of respondents, 7% saw the Sony Ericsson as the best music device and another 3% saw the Blackberry as the top selling music device for phones. 

●         53% of respondent said that there hasn’t been an increase in the number of people opening new accounts or buying the iPhone in the past 3 weeks, while 47% of respondents said that there has been an increase. 

Conclusion of Channel Check: A 73% reading for the iPhone as the top selling device is as dominating a reading in this survey as any phone we've ever seen, including the iPhone's early survey reads when the phone was first launched. The iPhone is also dominant in the music category and very competitive with the Blackberry product line as the top e-mail device. Recent demand is steady, but overall this survey suggests that the iPhone may be continuing to gain market share versus traditional cell phone vendors such as Nokia, Motorola, Samsung and LG.

Catalyst for stock movement:

AAPL World Wide Developers Conference Begins 06/8/09.

Negative

Zumiez Sales in 2Q Look Challenged.

1. Has there been an increase in sales as summer approaches?

2. What is the most popular brand for teenagers?

3. Is the most popular brand products in stock or are they sold out?

4. What is the average sales receipt at this location?

●         70% have said that sales are increasing as summer approaches. 30% said they have not.

●         The strongest teen brand was listed as Volcom according to 17%, 10% cited Empyre, 10% cited DC, 7% said earthquake and 7% said Bilabong.

●         100% of store reps said that the most popular teen brand (cited above) was in-stock.

●         The average sales receipt at Zumiez shops were said to be $58.23 with a range of $25-$150.

●         Winter gear was the primary category of clothes and accessories cited as being in “clearance” mode.

Conclusion of Channel Check:  Sales activity, clearance items, and lack of strong dominant brands suggest that business is not extremely strong at Zumiez stores now. The average customer receipt is respectable but again does not suggest that business is booming.

Catalyst for stock movement:

ZUMZ Reports Earnings on 6/9/09 

For more information, please contact Jason Katz at 415.867.0959 or jason@thechannelcheckers.com