Flower Plays On Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is naturally associated with flowers, so 1-800-Flowers.Com Inc FLWS is the best pure-play stock on Valentine's Day, right?

Not necessarily, at least according to Benchmark's Daniel Kurnos.

Benzinga chatted with the analyst ahead of Tuesday's holiday and asked how important Valentine's Day is to 1-800 Flowers' business.

According to Kurnos, Valentine's Day is an important for 1-800 Flowers, but it isn't part of the company's core business.

The analyst noted 1-800 Flowers makes more money on everyday gifting items. For example, the company's birthday presents include animated teddy bears, chocolates, wine and gourmet boxes of food. Among housewarming gifts include personalized wine glasses, casserole dishes and dessert baskets.

Kurnos suggested Valentine's Day falling on a Tuesday should have a bigger impact on FTD Companies Inc FTD, a direct marketer of floral and gift products.

Nevertheless, the analyst suggested 1-800 Flowers might be better positioned to take floral share away from FTD given the day shift which will actually generate an incremental $8 million in sales.

Shares of 1-800 Flowers have lost nearly 6 percent in 2017, but are higher by more than 30 percent over the past year.

Shares of FTD are higher by nearly 3 percent in 2017 and higher by nearly 6 percent over the past year.