Friday, September 22, 2006

Ameron's No Balance Sheet Disclosure

Ameron International Corporation (NYSE:AMN) reports earnings touting record profits in the headline of their own press release. The press release came out on Business Wire at 0400 ET. Friday Sep 22. Notably missing a balance sheet and sources and uses of funds (cash) statement. How can an investor rely on disclosure that is so incomplete? (Regardless of how good operating results seem to be). Reg FD means Full Disclosure. I always assumed that meant complete financials. SEC filings which may be more complete, will clearly be at a much later time and investors may not have the sufficient time to absorb the information.

Thursday, September 21, 2006

Darden Labor Costs Suspect

Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE: DRI) reported improving Q1 numbers and the herd seems to be running strong. The labor expense item caught my eye; up a whopping 4.7% . Revenues were up 3.3%. Linda Dimopoulos CFO touched on the point in the most recent conference call transcript carried by Seeking Alpha “...The second structural impact is that of labor expenses that have been rising due to the increased FICA tip expense, resulting from the higher level of tip reporting by our employees....” There was no comment on what to expect in the future. With an aging population will the legal cheap labor pool of servers continue. This line item will most likely experience negative pressures. The analysts on the call missed this point or chose to ignore it.

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

KFX Inc What's Left?

KFX Inc (KFX) Controversy abounds. So what does informed opinion say? Yahoo Finance reports insider activity for the past six months. No insider purchases and one sale of 12,000 shares. All this while the stock has dropped like a stone. The silence is deafening.

Galaxy Bogie

Golf Galaxy, Inc. (Nasdaq: GGXY reports increasing net income. But compared to last years comparable quarter same store sales are off dramatically barely registering a fractional increase of less than 1%. The cash position has dropped dramatically in what you would expect their best golf season quarter. Last but not least the inventory position is up a dramatic 50%. This is a caveat emptor moment.

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

FactSet Expenses Grow Too Fast

FactSet Research Systems Inc. (NYSE: FDS) reports supposedly excellent numbers with revenues up 23.9% on an annual basis. But operating expenses are up 30.7%. This clearly is a recipe for financial disaster. No comments are included in the press release. Will the conference call shed some light on this. In the meantime do not drink the cool-aid

Monday, September 18, 2006

Centene Investors Suffer

Centene Corp (NYSE:CNC) has its hands full; firstly with earnings difficulties and lately losing in Kansas as a Medicaid provider. Watch the analyst behavior. Guidance is difficult when predicting government actions. They all are waiting for Q3 results. But in this case quarterlies will most likely reveal nothing. Management needs to shed some light on why they think they lost Kansas and what they are doing about it. In the meantime management and analyst statements will not be helpful. Most recommendations are neutral to bearish. Investors are on their own and suffering financially. Of course if some good news comes out the analysts will all issue buy signals and drive the price up. Its called a stampede.

Sunday, September 17, 2006

Weekend Follies Sep 16-17

The following companies release information at oddball hours over the weekend when investors are typically not looking at their screens. Basically they are sneaking news out and hoping to call it disclosure. The culprits are: Stewart Enterprises (Nasdaq:STEI) released deteriorating Q3 results, Freescale Semiconductor (NYSE:FSL) approved a takeover offer but is allowed to solicit other bids. The bid is huge and there are questions as to if it can be trumped. Avalon Bay (NYSE:AVB) and Nara Bancorp (Nasdaq:NARA) both declare dividends when no one is looking. Novelis (NYSE:NVL) swings to a loss for Q1 with a much delayed filing that no one is proud of. Mentor (NYSE:MNT) reports that they have re-elected their board and passed all resolutions. I suppose if you were at the AGM you would know this. If not here is a late press release. Rotonics (AMEX:RMI) strangely enough released good information. You have to wonder if they want to be noticed or what?