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Politics : Ask Michael Burke -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Knighty Tin who wrote (82689)	8/4/2000 10:39:40 PM
From: starhawke	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 132070

MB, It's good to see that you have some standards. <g> S

To: Knighty Tin who wrote (82689)	8/5/2000 10:01:57 AM
From: Freedom Fighter	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 132070

Mike, Velcro (VELCF) released earnings last night. They were up sharply, but primarily because they took a lot of gains on their huge investment portfolio. Without that, pre tax operating earnings were down slightly both year over year and sequentially. Last year's quarter was a very tough compare. Expenses were up fairly sharply year over year. That accounts for the decline because sales were up 10%. Sales and earnings were essentially flat sequentially. I don't pay place too much weight on the quarterly results for this company because I think they actually report reality. There's no effort made to smooth things out. Investment gains, the tax rate, sales, etc... all fluctuate a bit in no meaningful pattern. The press release tells you next to nothing (in fact nothing!) about what actually happened during the quarter and what area of expenses rose and why. For all I know there area a couple of legitimate one time items in there. I know for certain that there is higher amortization of goodwill in the 9 month figures so "cash" earnings are higher than reported earnings. (if you are into that sort of stuff). I don't know where the investment portfolio stands as of now, but I'm going to speak to the company on Monday and I'll pass any new information on to you if I get it. I think the quarter was OK. Nothing special. The valuation still appears extremely attractive to me. Wayne