1-Star Stocks Poised to Plunge: Macy's?

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Based on the aggregated intelligence of 135,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, department store operator Macy's (NYSE: M) has received the dreaded one-star ranking.

With that in mind, let's take a closer look at Macy's business, and see what CAPS investors are saying about the stock right now.

Macy’s facts

Headquarters (founded)	Cincinnati (1820)
Market Cap	$5.83 billion
Industry	Department Stores
TTM Revenue	$24.34 billion
Management	CEO Terry Lundgren (since 2003) CFO Karen Hoguet (since 1997)
Return on Equity (average, last five years and TTM)	(5.4%) and (67.3%)
3-Month Return	89.0%
Competitors	Saks (NYSE: SKS) J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP)
CAPS members bearish on M also bearish on	Sears Holdings (Nasdaq: SHLD) Citigroup (NYSE: C)
CAPS members bullish on M also bullish on	Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) General Electric (NYSE: GE)

Sources: Capital IQ, a division of Standard & Poor's, and Motley Fool CAPS. TTM = trailing 12 months.

Over on CAPS, fully 271 of the 633 members who have rated Macy's -- some 43% -- believe the stock will underperform the S&P 500 going forward. These bears include cmoney85 and wolfhounds.

Just last week, cmoney85 predicted even larger losses for the "world's largest store": "Retail is a nasty place to be in right now, especially in regards to expensive unneeded items like Macy's. They keep posting major losses, which I see no end for."

In a pitch from April, wolfhounds elaborates on the company's recent drop into junk status:

Moody's downgraded Macy's debt to Ba2 for good reason. As of fiscal y/e 2009, cash and receivables totaled $1.7B while ST debt was $966. Cash from operations dropped 50% the last 2 years, with a LT debt load of $8.73B. To add insult to injury, inventory levels have barely budged in 3 years indicating management's inability to gauge demand. Oh yes, things are so good Macy's coughed up $15m in compensation to its CEO in 2008.

What do you think about Macy's, or any other stock for that matter? Make your voice heard on Motley Fool CAPS today. More than 135,000 investors are waiting to hear what you have to say. CAPS is 100% free, so simply click here to get started.