Renee Ann Butler

The growth of online sales as a percentage of all retail continues to grow, but ecommerce itself is beginning to mature — and that online retailers were having to change their business models to reflect that. Whereas a novel concept or a low price was once enough to get customers to visit the site, the maturity of the channel meant that companies needed to shift their focus towards more sophisticated analysis that examines more fragmented ways visitors find their site and the rate at which th...

Finding a company for a good long position and a little regular income is not an easy feat. The larger dividend yields tend to be offered by mature companies with little debt that may not need to reinvest all of their earnings. Retaining that cash would have resulted in a cash surplus and shifted the companies’ capital structures. It also helps attract investors when year over year growth is not very high.

Month over month construction spending is contracting, particularly in private construction and home improvement, and that could spell trouble for companies in the home improvement industry.

Spending on home improvement projects fell almost 2% in May while private construction spending was down 1.5%. "The recent flattening out in housing activity could prove more protracted than currently expected rather than resuming its earlier pace of recovery," said Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen in May. She continued by warning that housing activity has been disappointing this year...

Business owners tend to develop strong relationships with their accountants. usually at least once a quarter you sit down to figure out where your company stands and how much it owes in taxes. You might also meet a couple times a year to plan when you will make certain investments in your business or how you will structure wages so that you get the greatest tax benefit.

Your books are only as good as their execution. Otherwise, even the most perfect business model does no more good than the latest diet book growing dusty on your bookshelf.

The fact of the matter is that your books ARE your business. At the end of the day, your company IS how much it makes. You take in your sales but you have to deduct the cost of goods sold as well as all your administrative expenses. In addition to the regular costs like rent and payroll, you have the one-offs - like the impromptu holiday party you threw to thank your workers for pulling off a tight deadline or the machine

Amazon has been inching towards physical locations for years - introducing package pickup locations within brick-and-mortar stores - but the push has been met w...

Home Depot’s share price only dipped slightly after the data breach was confirmed.But, that doesn’t mean that Home Depot will be so robust when the company announces earnings in November.Expect the company’s sales to dip as c...

Molson Coors has a range of popular product offerings and the company is strong on fundamentals.The company is trying to reinforce brand loyalty and cut costs, but the market for beer is shrinking.Molson Coors is a good compa...

Raytheon’s share price is not keeping pace with its earnings. The company has strong financials and low debt. Plus, it pays a dividend. Raytheon is having success with its technologies and attracting big companies like Boeing...

Ruby Tuesday has seen large gains this week after CEO Buettgen purchased 50,000 shares of the company. Insider purchases can point to go things, but not always. Ruby Tuesday is expecting flat revenue, has low profit margins,...

Shares in Salesforce.com (NYSE:CRM) plummeted on June 4 after the company announced that it had agreed to purchase ExactTarget (NYSE:ET) for roughly $2.5 billion. Salesforce closed at $41.04 on June 3. By the end of the day o...

The Federal Reserve announced Wednesday that it would not raise the Federal Funds rate for a considerable time.Home improvement company Home Depot saw a modest gain on the news, but don’t expect that...

Amazon halts pre-orders on Disney movies, making the Walt Disney Company the most recent to experience Amazon’s strong arm tactics.The Seattle-based company has used this technique successfully in the past but never against a...

Companies like Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) and Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) make their money primarily from advertising -- and with so many people online today, the market is huge. The mobile ad market alone stood at roughly $4.1 billion at...