67 WALL STREET, New York - September 4, 2012 - The Wall Street Transcript has just published its Retail Report offering a timely review of the sector to serious investors and industry executives. This special feature contains expert industry commentary through in-depth interviews with public company CEOs, Equity Analysts and Money Managers. The full issue is available by calling (212) 952-7433 or via The Wall Street Transcript Online.

Topics covered: Brick-And-Mortar Versus Online Retail Sales - Cautious Consumer Spending - Specialty Hardlines and Softlines Retail - Strong Secular Growth in E-Commerce - International Retail Platforms

Companies include: Under Armour, Inc. (UA), Nike Inc. (NKE), Lululemon Athletica Inc. (LULU), Dick's Sporting Goods Inc. (DKS), Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) and many others.

In the following excerpt from the Retail Report, Piper Jaffray's Health and Wellness research analyst discusses the outlook for this unique investment category:

TWST: What is your retail coverage?

Mr. Naughton: My coverage universe is a little unique. I cover what we have termed active and healthy lifestyles. I have two relatively distinct sets of stocks that I follow. The one side focuses on organic and natural foods as well as the supplement business, which I would consider the health and wellness side, and then the second part is the active lifestyle side, which would be more focused on sporting goods as well as active apparel and active footwear. There are also some other pieces in here for fitness clubs that fit into the active side as well.

TWST: Are the active lifestyle and organic and natural foods/supplement spaces seeing the same kinds of trends right now, or are they experiencing two distinctly different situations?

Mr. Naughton: It's interesting. The active lifestyle space, in my opinion, is a category where the consumer is continuing to spend more money. I think that the fusion of fashion and function is well underway with what we've seen from apparel and footwear growth from Under Armour (UA), Nike (NKE), Lululemon (LULU) and those types of names. These are all companies that are clearly benefiting from trends within this entire lifestyle and the next leg of that growth is those brands continuing to offer the types of products that they do today with better fits, but also now introducing more technology. So whether it is chips inside of shoes or tracking on shirts to monitor heart rates inside of your body, I think those are the types of initiatives that will continue to drive innovation in that category and continue to drive share of wallet with the consumer.

TWST: What about with youth sports? Are sporting goods companies benefiting from that area as well?

For more from this interview and many others visit the Wall Street Transcript - a unique service for investors and industry researchers - providing fresh commentary and insight through verbatim interviews with CEOs, portfolio managers, and research analysts. This special issue is available by calling (212) 952-7433 or via The Wall Street Transcript Online.

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Real Growth Rates Accelerating for Health and Wellness Stocks: Piper Jaffray Expert Analyst Identifies Hot Investment ...