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Joseph A Bank Clothiers Inc. JOSB - (NASDAQ)

COMPANY

STATS

Ticker Symbol: JOSB - Nasdaq
Industry Group: Retail-Clothing/Shoe
Price: $33.43 (at close 10/29/04)
Day's Volume: 364,500(at close 10/29/04)
50-day Average Volume: : 393,400
52 Wk High: $33.43
52 WK Low: $: $16.05
Shares Outstanding: 13.3 Million

Shares In Float: 11.7 Million
Up/Down Volume Ratio: 1.0 Headquarters:
500 Hanover Pike
Hampstead, MD 21074
Phone: (410) 239-2700
Fax: (410) 239-5700
E-mail: Contact Page on Website
Website: http://www.josbank.com

COMPANY

PROFILE

Profile: Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, Inc. is a designer, retailer and direct marketer, through stores, catalog and the Internet, of men's tailored and casual clothing and accessories. The Company sells substantially all of its products exclusively under the Jos. A. Bank label through its 214 retail stores, including seven outlet stores and 10 franchise stores, located throughout 35 states and the District of Columbia in the United States, as well as through the Company's nationwide catalog and Internet operations, www.josbank.com. Jos. A. Bank's products are targeted at the male career professional. The Company's products are offered at three Levels of Luxury, which include the opening Jos. A. Bank Collection, as well as the more luxurious Signature and Signature Gold Collections. Strength from other issues in the Retail-Clothing/Shoe group and the fact the group presently ranks in the top 21% of IBD's 197 Industry Groups is a nice reassurance it is a leader in a leading group of stocks. It has a well-established annual earnings growth record and stellar quarterly financial reports that earn it the highest EPS rank possible.

Pivot Point	Max Buy Price
$31.95 (0.10 9/22 high)	$33.55 (PP + 5%)

What to Look For and Look Out For: The price still needs to clear its pivot point with higher volume sufficient to satisfy the guidelines for a buyable breakout, and the normal minimum guideline required is volume 50%+ above average. Confirming action may come in the days ahead. However, any high volume declines that negate the recent progress and start threatening to drop near or under the 50-day moving average line (the blue line) would make the issue less attractive as a buy candidate - and could be considered sell signals.

Technical Analysis: On August 5th it gapped up back above its 200 DMA from critical chart lows in the $22 range, gaining on the highest volume since December. On August 19th it initially traded up above the pivot point identified in our August 22nd Special Report, however it promptly reversed to close flat, lacking the 50%+ higher than average volume needed for a good buyable breakout. It rallied in September to challenge prior chart highs in March-April, then retested support near its 50-day moving average line. All-time highs have recently been tested and exceeded, but volume should be convincing as it clears long-term chart highs.

OUR

CANSLIM

COMPARATIVE

JOSB Quarterly Financial Comparisons Versus The Year Earlier
Quarter:	10/31/03		01/31/04		04/30/04		07/31/04
Earnings:	0.20 vs 0.14	+43%	0.68 vs 0.48	+42%	0.37 vs 0.16	+131%	0.25 vs 0.15	+67%
Sales ($Mil):	72.0 vs 57.9	+24%	100.9 vs 77.9	+30%	79.9 vs 62.3	+28%	82 vs 64.4	+27%

Current Quarterly Earnings - The table below shows how the past four earnings announcements have been versus the same quarter one year earlier, leading off with the oldest and ending with the latest reported quarterly results. Notice how the earnings percentage growth has been particularly strong over this period, thoroughly exceeding the minimum 25%+ earnings improvement that is within proper guidelines. Return on Equity for the company has been 22%, above O'Neil's 17% guideline in that area. Jos. A. Bank Clothiers' underlying sales revenue increases have also been continually impressive.

JOSB - Sales Revenues	2003	2004	% Change
Totals	262.5	334.8	+27.5%
			Note: US $ Milllion(s)

Annual Earnings - When applying CANSLIM there should be meaningful annual earnings growth over the last three to five years. The average annual compounded growth rate of earnings in the superior firms should be from +15% to +50% per year or more. A review of JOSB's annual earning history shows for the past four years show an average increase of +48.25%.

Year	EPS	%+/-	Stock Price
Year	EPS	%+/-	High	Low
1999	0.34		4	1
2000	0.25	-26.5%	3	1
2001	0.42	+68.0%	4	2
2002	0.57	+35.7%	14	3
2003	0.82	+43.9%	29	9
2004	1.19	+45.1%	33	18

New Highs in the Stock’s Price, New Management, New Products Services - Jos. A. Bank Clothiers traded up to a new 7-month high last week and is -5.1% from its 52-week high. The company manufactures classic men's clothing and has expanded its traditional sales of clothing to include direct marketing via catalogs throughout the United States and also on the world wide web at www.josbank.com. Traditionally, men’s apparel has been sold in retail stores, however, a large portion of the company's profits are due to its direct marketing sales. Oct. 11, 2004 the company announced that it had teamed with QVC, Inc. to establish a JoS. A. Bank "virtual" storefront on QVC's e-commerce site, QVC.com, and will offer more than 500 men's apparel and accessory items to QVC's shoppers on the PM Style segment which airs from 8:00 PM to 10:00 PM Eastern Time.

Supply of Stock - There are 13.3 million shares outstanding and 11.7 million open in float (the number of freely traded public shares), with the difference being the amount held by the company’s insiders approximating 12% of the total shares outstanding. When looking for buy candidates an important indicator is the number of shares in the float. When stocks have between 5 - 50 million shares in their float they are most ripe for take off. The reason is that when institutional investors look to acquire stock they will normally buy in large amounts. When a company has billions of shares in its float the buying demand must be absolutely tremendous in order to have a significant movement in price. However, the share prices can rise much faster due to the tight supply when in demand companies have fewer than 50 million shares in their float.

Leading Company in a Leading Group - Jos. A Bank is in the Retail-Clothing/Shoe industry group and has the strongest fundamentals in its group. Its Relative Strength rating is an impressive 89, which means that JOSB is performing better than 89% of the stocks making up the S&P 500 Index. This leading company has solid fundamental characteristics and a bullish technical chart pattern. Great reassurance comes from the fact that other companies in the group are demonstrating similarly strong fundamental performance as well as great technical strength in their price/volume charts. Study several of its peers including Bebe Stores Inc (BEBE), Urban Outfitters Inc (URBN) and American Eagle Outfitters (AEOS) as examples of additional group leadership. It is important to choose a high-ranked leader in a part of the market that is serving up lots of additional leadership. While not all retail names in the market are sporting such high ranks or showing up on the new highs list, on almost a daily basis there has been a recognizable presence of retail issues making it to the CANSLIM.net BreakOuts Page.

Institutional Sponsorship - The “I” In CANSLIM is very important because it shows what the largest market participants with the most influence are doing. Institutions own 48% of JOSB at present . Their large interest could have a major amount of influence as this is a substantial portion of the shares in its float. Be aware that this is also a key reason to be disciplined in your selling to limit losses at 7-8% - and especially important if fund managers were to decide to rush for the exit door. However, another encouraging sign is that the number of funds having an ownership interest has been generally increasing over the past few quarters. In December 2003 there were 53 top-performing funds owning JOSB, and that number increased to 63 funds in March 2004. In June of 2004 that number swelled to 73. As of September of 2004 the number of funds remained virtually unchanged at 71. Overall this illustrates a reasonably clear demand for the stock by more institutional investors .

Ownership Summary
# Institutions:	121
3 Mo. Shares Purchased:	5,409,680
3 Mo. Shares Sold:	(4,752,772)
3 Mo. Net Change:	656,908

Institution Name	Shares Held	Position Value (000)	% Shs. Out.	Portfolio Date
JOSB - Top Institutional Holders
RS INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT, INC.	1,041,662	$32,697.77	8.01%	6/30/2004
VEREDUS ASSET MANAGEMENT LLC	916,368	$25,365.07	7.05%	9/30/2004
JLF ASSET MANAGEMENT LLC	663,656	$20,832.16	5.11%	6/30/2004
WINSLOW CAPITAL MGMT	662,935	$20,809.53	5.10%	6/30/2004
SENECA CAPITAL MANAGEMENT	633,250	$19,877.72	4.87%	6/30/2004
WASATCH ADVISORS	503,982	$15,820.00	3.88%	6/30/2004
AIM CAPITAL MANAGEMENT	487,001	$15,286.96	3.75%	6/30/2004
OPPENHEIMER CAPITAL	456,625	$14,333.46	3.51%	6/30/2004
PRINCIPAL GLOBAL INVESTORS (DES MOINES)	447,070	$14,033.53	3.44%	6/30/2004
TRUSCO CAPITAL MANAGEMENT	370,587	$11,632.73	2.85%	6/30/2004
BUCKINGHAM CAPITAL MANAGEMENT	407,136	$11,269.52	3.13%	9/30/2004
NORTHPOINTE CAPITAL	337,482	$10,593.56	2.60%	6/30/2004
VINIK ASSET MANAGEMENT LP	336,937	$10,576.45	2.59%	6/30/2004
MISSOURI VALLEY PARTNERS INC	331,812	$10,415.58	2.55%	6/30/2004
BARCLAYS GLOBAL INVESTORS INTL	331,160	$10,395.11	2.55%	6/30/2004

Institution Name	Shares Purchased	Shares Purchased Value (000)	Shares Held	Portfolio Date
JOSB - Top Buyers
RS INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT, INC. ⁺	1,041,662	$32,697.77	1,041,662	6/30/2004
PRINCIPAL GLOBAL INVESTORS (DES MOINES) ⁺	447,070	$14,033.53	447,070	6/30/2004
JLF ASSET MANAGEMENT LLC	442,626	$12,822.03	663,656	6/30/2004
MISSOURI VALLEY PARTNERS INC ⁺	331,812	$10,415.58	331,812	6/30/2004
BROADVIEW ADVISORS LLC	299,250	$9,250.99	328,625	6/30/2004
GLENHILL CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LLC ⁺	250,000	$7,847.50	250,000	6/30/2004
NICHOLAS APPLEGATE CAPITAL MANAGEMENT ⁺	241,375	$7,576.76	241,375	6/30/2004
VINIK ASSET MANAGEMENT LP	235,125	$6,886.79	336,937	6/30/2004
SEB ASSET MANAGEMENT ⁺	169,750	$5,328.45	169,750	6/30/2004
NORTHPOINTE CAPITAL	159,086	$4,128.49	337,482	6/30/2004
WASATCH ADVISORS	144,539	$2,793.78	503,982	6/30/2004
ESSEX INVESTMENT MGMT CO	115,680	$2,656.25	262,788	9/30/2004
OPPENHEIMER CAPITAL	133,499	$2,623.37	456,625	6/30/2004
LANDIS ASSOCIATES ⁺	81,250	$2,550.44	81,250	6/30/2004
TRAVELERS ASSET MANAGEMENT	76,179	$2,250.55	105,192	6/30/2004

Market Direction - Overall market conditions have not created the most ideal CANSLIM buying environment throughout most of 2004. The markets have been trading “sideways” for most of this year. However, the Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 Index are now trading above their moving averages which seems to be setting the stage for healthier action. The S&P 500 recently charged above its 50-day and 200-day moving average lines while volume surged to above average levels behind this meaningful advance. This action is encouraging to see as the benchmark index rallies toward prior highs. It topped out in the 1,142 to 1,163 range on every other occasion this year. Technical analysts are watching to see when there will be an eventual break to the upside from its relatively narrow range. On Friday, October 29th, 2004 there were nearly 19 stocks rising for every 13 that fell on the NYSE, and more impressively, there were 157 new 52-week highs and only 21 new 52-week lows on the big board. The S&P 500 Index and Dow Industrials both experienced their first weekly advance after declining in the three prior weeks as they also enjoyed their fourth consecutive day of gains.

REPORT

UPDATES

Daily updates can now be found in the CANSLIM.net After-Market Update starting Monday 11/01/04 here.

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This report was prepared by Kenneth J. Gruneisen and the staff of CANSLIM.net.

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