Circuit City Stars on Big-Screen TVs
This column was originally published on RealMoney on June 5 at 9:24 a.m. EDT. It's being republished as a bonus for TheStreet.com readers.
Big-screen televisions worldwide are still hot. That's why this Piper Jaffray upgrade of
Circuit City
(CC) - Get Report
makes so much darned sense. I don't know if people realize it, but Circuit City has been killing
Best Buy's
(BBY) - Get Report
stock of late. Circuit City's been a monster to the upside. That's because it is far more levered to big-screen televisions than Best Buy is.
What's really driving sales? Piper says it is a new cycle: HDTV. I can't underestimate the importance of a new product cycle, any new product cycle, when it comes to consumer products. The lack of new product cycles in PCs has been a disaster for that group, courtesy of the lateness of Vista from
Microsoft
(MSFT) - Get Report
. Cell phones are still getting upgraded, and that's spurring
Motorola
( MOT) and
Nokia
(NOK) - Get Report
, both stocks I like. (I had been neutral on Motorola, but it is getting too attractive the longer it stays down here.)
But nothing's bigger than a big-screen product cycle and the higher price points that come with it. Piper reminds us that this HDTV trend is like DVD a few years ago. There were many who discounted or pooh-poohed that DVD cycle, and they missed out on the gains. This morning,
USA Today
says more HDTV sets will be bought than traditional ones, courtesy of Morgan Stanley.
While Circuit City has run a great deal, I think there is more to come for the stock, simply because people are misjudging the HDTV trend and don't understand that you need a big-box retailer like a Circuit City to explain this obviously non-commodity, high-price-point stuff.
Random musings:
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