Federated Discount Not Large Enough

If you're like many people with schoolkids, you may have spent part of this past weekend combing department stores and discount retailers for back-to-school deals.

At least that's what companies like Federated Department Stores (FD Quote) are banking on. Back-to-school is the second most important shopping season behind the year-end holidays. Even so, that doesn't necessarily mean that now is the right time to load up on the stock.

Sure, Federated is one of the best-managed department-store retailers out there. Its shares have become cheaper, too. They have lost more than 10% of their value since I last highlighted the company on June 16, when I advised against buying the stock. Shares are now down nearly 6% for the year, underperforming the 3.5% decline in the S&P 500. ...