>Sure, on a day like today when people think the sky is falling stocks
>like SFSK will be the first to suffer profit-taking.
>But tomorrow if things look brighter, it will also be one of the
>first stocks that people look to get back into, hoping for a return
>of the rally.
>Of course, this could be a true market top, in which case SFSK will
>continue its downward spiral to more sane levels.
and i thought i was the king of couch!
sm:)e
indeed, maintain a long-term perspective and ignore the market's daily gyrations, and you will be handsomely rewarded.
if you're interested, david, the 10-k is now available. some of the new numbers and more intriguing excerpts:
"The Company estimates that it has 29% of the acute care medical examination glove market and 47% of the powder-free segment (including sales of the Company's product under private label agreements) of the acute care medical examination glove market."
"The Company's research and development strategy is to develop high quality disposable gloves for the medical, dental, high technology and scientific markets. In 1997, 1996 and 1995, the Company's research and development expenses were approximately $3,505,000, $2,209,000 and $1,493,000, respectively. The Company expects these costs to increase as the Company increases the number of new products it introduces."
"As of December 31, 1997, the Company's gloves were used in over 3,800 hospitals."
"Two of the largest distributors to the general hospital market...MGM and Owens & Minor distributed gloves accounting for approximately 22.2% and 19.6%, respectively, of the Company's 1997 consolidated net sales."
"During 1997, international sales represented approximately twelve percent of the Company's total sales."
"Traditionally, the Company had purchased latex concentrate from latex processing firms in Malaysia and Thailand. However, in mid-1997 Safeskin broke ground, in Thailand, on one of the world's largest latex concentrate plants. Removing a significant portion of this process from the domain of the independent concentrators allows Safeskin to apply its stringent quality standards and proprietary formulations directly on incoming raw latex while also driving down costs. The plant was 75% complete and contributing to Safeskin's profitability within the first six months of operation. Scheduled for completion in early 1998, the plant is expected to generate enough raw latex to supply approximately 80% of the Company's present needs."
"As of December 31, 1997, the Company's continuing expansion brought its total production capacity, in both Thailand and Malaysia, to 3.5 billion latex and synthetic gloves annually."
"Construction of the new manufacturing facility in Tambol Patong, Thailand began in the second half of 1997 after preliminary approval by the Thailand Board of Investment. Four production buildings are expected to be constructed on this site. One of these buildings will house the expansion of the Company's Tactylon(R) synthetic medical examination and surgical glove production and the Company's nitrile glove production and is scheduled to be completed during the second half of fiscal 1998. This building is expected to increase by over 200 percent the production capacity of the Tactylon(R) product line in comparison to the existing facility which is located in Vista, California. The second building will provide additional capacity for the production of the Company's surgical and clean-room glove products and is scheduled to be completed in the fourth quarter of 1998. Finally, the additional two buildings will provide the Company increased capacity for latex and synthetic medical examination, surgical and scientific glove production. Production at these two additional buildings is scheduled to begin in 1999. The new buildings, machines and supporting infrastructure at the new Tambol Patong manufacturing facility are expected to cost approximately $80 million in the aggregate and is expected to increase the Company's annual production capacity by over 2.5 billion gloves, when fully operational."
"From May 1995 through March 26, 1998, 135 product liability lawsuits seeking monetary damages, in most cases of an unspecified amount, have been filed in federal and state courts against the Company, and other manufacturers of latex gloves, alleging injures ranging from dermatitis to severe allergic reactions caused by the residual chemicals or latex proteins in gloves worn by medical workers while performing their duties. The Company has been dismissed from 22 of those product liability lawsuits."
sec.gov |
