It seems like a few times each month we come across another ranking of merchants being unveiled by someone associated with the retail industry. Obviously the criteria for each listings is different but it is still interesting to see these lists and cross reference them against each other to get a gauge for which retailers are consistently performing the best.
And just as often as we see those rankings, we’re seeing one name atop the list more than any other: Amazon (AMZN).
Such is the case yet again, this time with Consensus Advisors’ 2009-2010 Retailer Health Ratings (RHRs), released by the boutique investment bank that focuses primarily on the retail and consumer products sectors. Considered to be a leading benchmarking tool that analyzes essential financial information to determine the health of each retailer, these rankings provide a great store-to-store comparison of more than 160 publicly traded retail outlets.
Amazon has achieved the top spot in the ratings for the second consecutive year now, again earning the designation as the healthiest retailer out there—a label that corresponds to several other retail rankings recently that has them at the top.
“This is a historically unique time to examine retailer health,” said Michael O’Hara, Consensus Advisors CEO. “Our highest rated company, Amazon.com, has exploited the increasing availability of broadband internet and mobile technology to build a fast growing and highly efficient retailing super-power.”
The RHRs specifically measure and compare retailers over a five-year period, which provides a good gauge of strength especially with the erratic shelf-lives many retailers have and the recent economic climate that has shuttered many merchants. Consensus Advisors analyzes four distinct areas to determine rankings—Healthy Growth, Asset Utilization, Pricing Power, and Balance Sheet Strength–to compile a health rating for each merchant. Retailers are then assigned a spot in one of five tiers based on their scores in the rankings.
The group also awards relative ranks within 20 distinct retailer categories. Those category rankings will be unveiled during a webcast tomorrow. You can get a copy of the full report here: www.retailerhealthratings.com.
The full top ten is as follows:
1. Amazon
2. Aeropostale (ARO)
3. Urban Outfitters (URBN)
4. CVS (CVS)
5. Wal-Mart (WMT)
6. Bed Bath and Beyond (BBBY)
7. Coach (COH)
8. Buckle (BKE)
9. Guess (GES)
10. LuLu Lemon Athletica (LULU)
Leave us your thoughts and comments on this new report below!
