Every Day Is Opening Night: Apple Inc. (AAPL), Macy’s, Inc. (M)

Macy’s trades at a 12.12 P/E with a 2.00% yield and PEG of .89. Macy’s has outperformed rivals Kohl’s Corporation (NYSE:KSS) and J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE:JCP) with Lundgren’s My Macy’s localization strategy as well as its e-commerce sites. Macy’s same store sales were up 11.7% in January and the company reports again on February 26. While not the sensory experience that Selfridges was Macy’s is the closest with its flagship store at Herald Square. Lundgren has taken a few pages from The Chief’s playbook like the exclusive New York Fashion Week collections, celebrity lines, and renaming the week after Christmas the Week of Wonderful to bring in traffic.

Not SRO At These Retailers

Interestingly, Sears Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ:SHLD) once owned Selfridges in the 1990s and renovated the store as well as rebranding their carrier bag so adroitly customers patronized Selfridges’ just for the bag. Why Sears Holdings hasn’t done the same for Sears and KMart is puzzling.

J.C Penney was once America’s department store but only a retail visionary like Mr. Selfridge could turn it around now. CEO Ron Johnson, formerly of Apple, has made a yearlong effort to brighten the stores and bring on new brands, just recently offering the Nanette Lepore and William Rast clothing lines. Johnson has been rolling out the shop within a shop nationally for what he calls a modern bazaar. Also, within the year the addition of iPads will make for easy mobile checkout making lines a thing of the past. Lines at Penney’s, unfortunately for them, are already a thing of the past. Johnson’s new mantra should be: What Would Selfridge Do?

J.C. Penney stock has plunged 52% over the last year and still has negative EPS of -$2.39 on a $19.00 stock.  Expect volatility with a short interest of 43% when it reports on February 27.

The Final Curtain

Putting on a great show is what differentiates Apple and Macy’s from lesser retailers. Both remain buys, especially Apple. If Mr. Selfridge was still around, he would be calling Bravo! to these retailers who’ve put on a successful revival of his work. And when PBS debuts “Mr. Selfridge” in America in March investors should watch. It wouldn’t hurt retail CEOs to take notes (Ron Johnson, I mean you). You won’t be bored, Mr. Selfridge, also called the West End Lothario, lived quite the scandalous life.

The article Every Day Is Opening Night originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by AnnaLisa Kraft.

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