The Next Brick-and-Mortar Sector to Crumble?

Amazon's online business will doom office supply stores, right? In this video, Austin Smith makes the Foolish case for Staples outperforming competitors such as Office Max and Office Depot and holding its own against Amazon. How might this happen? Staples already sells a ton of stuff online. It has a distribution network that's more advanced than Amazon's, and it has its own brand of office supplies, which gives it a further price advantage. Staples had some restructuring costs, but it is cash flow rich, selling around 10 times normalized earnings, and even pays a 3.3% dividend. On top of all that, it buys back its shares.

The retail space is in the midst of the biggest paradigm shift since mail order took off at the turn of last century. Only those most forward-looking and capable companies will survive, and they'll handsomely reward those investors who understand the landscape. You can read about the 3 Companies Ready to Rule Retail in our special report. Uncovering these top picks is free today; just click here to read more.

The article The Next Brick-and-Mortar Sector to Crumble? originally appeared on Fool.com.

Austin Smith has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Amazon.com. The Motley Fool owns shares of Amazon.com and Staples. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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