With retailer Nordstrom (JWN) poised to go private, as we discovered a few days ago, it might seem counterproductive for analysts to roll out an opinion on the stock. But roll they did, and Argus analyst John Eade hit Nordstrom with both barrels, and a two-level downgrade. Investors cared little, thanks to the new floor in the stock, and shares notched up fractionally.
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Eade yanked the rug out from under Nordstrom, sending the rating from Buy all the way back to Sell. Basically, the hit came as Eade does not see any other bidder coming in to run up the price on Nordstrom shares. With El Puerto de Liverpool now the only horse in the race, the agreed-upon price of $24.25 looks to be the best possible total.
Thus, Eade recommends selling now to take advantage of any gains, and most of those gains have been filtered out of the system. Based on current prices of $24.15, it is now actually possible to eke out a marginal win, assuming it is not all eaten up in trading fees.
The Stores Have Some Wins of Their Own
But while this is going on, it is easy to forget that Nordstrom is a store, not merely a stock, and it has some major deals coming out for its half-yearly sale, according to word from HuffPost. It would be also easy to think that, with the end of the Christmas shopping season, that the deals would be gone for quite some time, but Nordstrom is proving us wrong.
The report notes that some items are going for up to 60% off normal retail prices, with the sales running through January 6. Running shoes, cashmere V-neck sweaters, and even a Dutch oven are all on hand as part of the “twice yearly sale,” and with a holiday hitting tomorrow, it may be a good time to see what did not arrive under the tree this year that Nordstrom can fill the gap with.
Is Nordstrom a Good Stock to Buy Now?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Sell consensus rating on JWN stock based on eight Holds and four Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 37.02% rally in its share price over the past year, the average JWN price target of $22.06 per share implies 8.65% downside risk.
