Another Iconic American company about to die.

Can RadioShack survive?

By Ben Eisen and Ciara Linnane,


NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Can RadioShack Corp. turn itself around?
The electronics retailer’s stock has been trading below $1 since June 20, and on July 26 the company received a so-called listing-standards notice from the New York Stock Exchange, notifying it that the stock had closed below that level for 30 consecutive trading days, a breach of listing rules.
RadioShack     RSH +3.82% has six months to meet listing standards and has pledged to cure the issue and return to compliance.                                       
But now credit markets are flashing a worrying signal.

 

The cost to protect RadioShack debt against a potential default rose by 70% over the past month to its widest level ever, Fitch Solutions said Wednesday.
Much of that widening on so-called credit-default swaps, contracts that investors buy to protect themselves against nonpayment on bonds, happened in the past week.
“Markets appear increasingly concerned over RadioShack’s weak sales, which is likely why CDS has come out so significantly in such a short period of time,” said Fitch director Diana Allmendinger in a release.
RadioShack bonds have been trading at distressed levels for some time, with bonds maturing in 2019 changing hands at less than 42 cents on the dollar last week, according to MarketAxess. Concerns about the retailer’s ability to revive sales has also sent the stock sharply lower in recent months.
Last week, Moody’s said the company’s shrinking liquidity means it may be running out of time.
“The company’s deteriorating liquidity profile and dismal earnings give very little cushion to RadioShack to execute its turnaround strategy over the next several quarters,” said Moody’s senior analyst Mickey Chadha. “Absent a credible turnaround strategy to improve sales growth and increase earnings, RadioShack will be hard pressed to remain relevant in the increasingly competitive mobile-phone and consumer-electronics business.”
Moody’s rates the company at Caa2, deep into junk status. With no debt coming due for another year, its liquidity could last that long, but the “base-case scenario for RadioShack has the company running through its liquidity by the end of October 2015,” according to the ratings agency.

/quotes/zigman/260227/delayed/quotes/nls/rsh RSH 0.67, +0.03, +3.82%      

                       

RadioShack shares are down a staggering 75% in 2014.
RadioShack posted a loss of 93 cents for its first fiscal quarter, far wider than the loss of 52 cents that analysts surveyed by FactSet were expecting. Sales of $737 million fell below the $767 million Wall Street had forecast.
Chief Executive Joseph Magnacca said the company is shuttering stores in the U.S. and working on revamping its product line with new brands and categories.
But time may be running out.
B. Riley analyst Scott Tighman slashed his RadioShack price target to $0 from $1 following the June earnings report, maintained a sell rating on the stock. There is, Tighman said, “no recovery in sight.”




    

RadioShack Has Deep Roots

   
Here's a brief look at important dates and milestones for RadioShack across the past century...

• 1919: Two friends start the Hinckley-Tandy Leather Company in Fort Worth, Texas, supplying leather shoe parts and supplies to repair shops.
• 1921: Two brothers open the first "Radio Shack" in Boston, a small retail and mail-order business supplying ship radio equipment and "ham" radios. They borrowed the name for the store from the small wooden structure onboard ships that housed the radio equipment.
• 1935: A predecessor of present-day RadioShack Corp. lists shares for trading on the NYSE.
• 1947: Radio Shack opens the first audio showroom to feature speakers, amplifiers, turntables and phonograph cartridges. Also that year, Charles D. Tandy joins the family business and would soon begin to chart a new direction for the company's expansion.
• 1954: Radio Shack sells its leather operations to a New England firm and embarks on a capitalization plan to finance future expansion.
• 1959: Charles Tandy is elected as chairman of the board. The company is renamed Tandy Corp. and officially moves the headquarters to Fort Worth.
• 1959: Tandy Corp. sells its first Realistic CB radio.
• 1963: Tandy acquires Boston-based "Radio Shack" (as the retailer was then styled).
• 1972: The Company sells its first all-electronic calculator.
• 1977: RadioShack introduces the first mass-marketed, fully assembled personal computer, the TRS-80, with a Level II BASIC operating system created by Bill Gates. The TRS-80 is warmly remembered in the technology community to this day; by the 1980s, RadioShack comes to be known as "the biggest name in little computers."
• 1978: Charles D. Tandy dies. Later, the Fort Worth community erects a statue memorializing his visionary entrepreneurialism near the company's headquarters downtown. In 2009, the statue was relocated to Tandy Hall at Texas Christian University's Neeley School of Business.
• 1983: The Company introduces the "Model 100" laptop, the first of its kind in the computer industry.
• 1984: RadiosShack sells its first mobile phone.
• 1985: The Company starts selling satellite television systems and service.
• 1994: RadioShack begins offering free rechargeable battery recycling, responsibly disposing of more than 7 million pounds of rechargeable batteries to date.
• 2000: Tandy Corp. changes its name to RadioShack Corp.; later relisting shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker "RSH."
• 2004: RadioShack launches kiosk sales segment in partnership with national wireless carrier and big-box retail partner.
• 2005: RadioShack Corp. moves headquarters to new Riverfront Campus along Trinity River in downtown Fort Worth.
• 2005: RadioShack becomes an Authorized Apple Reseller and later introduces Skype-certified hardware and software in stores for free voice- and video-calling over the Web.
• 2008: RadioShack launches Trade & Save, a trade-in program that allows customers to trade used devices at no cost, no matter where they were purchased, for credit toward a new purchase. RadioShack also acquires full ownership of RadioShack de Mexico.
• 2009: RadioShack concludes an extensive two-year grass-roots education campaign with the American Library Association to assist consumers in navigating the nationwide conversion to digital television broadcasting in high-definition, which earned a special commendation from the FCC in 2010.
• 2011: RadioShack introduces Verizon Wireless, the nation's largest wireless carrier, and its industry-leading products and services in stores nationwide. Along with AT&T and Sprint, consumers can choose from all three top post-paid carriers as well as a range of pre-paid options.
• 2012: The company introduces RadioShack No Contract Wireless in recognition of the growing popularity of pre-paid plans.
• 2013: RadioShack introduce our new brand and opens the doors of our first concept store in Manhattan in July 2013. We later open our first custom concept store paying homage to our hometown and technology heritage in the popular Sundance Square area of downtown Fort Worth.
• 2013: RadioShack launches the unparalleled “IT Happens” protection plan in November, offering same-day in-store replacement for qualifying products priced less than $300 and many more benefits through a simple in-store claim process.
• 2013: By the end of 2013, the company will have made improvements to nearly all 4,300 U.S. company-owned stores. This includes more than 100 concept and brand statement stores, which feature bright, completely redesigned interiors and new exterior signage.
• Today: RadioShack employs more than 27,000 associates and has a vast retail network that includes more than 4,000 company-operated stores across the United States and Mexico and more than 950 dealer and other outlets worldwide. With that unparalleled network of expert associates and neighborhood stores, RadioShack is inviting customers to experience the mobile and connected opportunities of their devices, marrying customers’ needs with associates’ knowledge.