The Home Depot, Inc. (HD), Foot Locker, Inc. (FL), Fossil Inc (FOSL): Why These Specialty Retailers Are Attractive

The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) is simply a giant in the realm of shareholder rewards. Not only does the company pay a competitive 2% dividend, but it buys back huge amounts of its own shares. Year to date, Home Depot has repurchased $4.3 billion of its own shares, and yet still intends to purchase an additional $2.2 billion of its own stock over the remainder of the year.

Foot Locker, Inc. (NYSE:FL) is no stranger to increasing shareholder rewards, either. Earlier this year, it increased its dividend 11%, and currently provides investors with a solid 2.5% yield. In addition, the company spent $100 million in the second quarter repurchasing 2.8 million of its own shares, representing about 2% of the company’s shares outstanding.

Speaking of share buybacks, Fossil Inc (NASDAQ:FOSL) is extremely committed to returning cash to shareholders by retiring its own shares. The company spent $169 million on share repurchases in the second quarter, and still has $843 million left in its existing share repurchase authorization.

Opportunities for growth remain

Not only are these stocks each excelling in what continues to be a difficult economic environment, but since each is tied to the health of the consumer, their fortunes stand to improve even further.

As the global economy continues its gradual recovery from the worst financial crisis in decades, consumers are slowly loosening the grip on their purse strings. This means that, as good as they’re performing now, there’s plenty of room for improvement for these companies.

As a result, investors looking for opportunities in retail should look to The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD), Foot Locker, and Fossil Inc (NASDAQ:FOSL).

The article Why These Specialty Retailers Are Attractive originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Robert Ciura.

Robert Ciura has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Fossil and Home Depot. The Motley Fool owns shares of Fossil. 

Copyright © 1995 – 2013 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.