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Strategies & Market Trends : Three Amigos Stock Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: John R Resseger who wrote (24225)	3/17/2001 5:03:33 AM
From: Ditchdigger	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 29382

"Soooo! Is American Skiing Co. (SKI) a buy at the currant price?" Not in my opinion.To much debt, to many big hands in the pie(bass brothers,Meristar..) I might consider it (and really would like to own it since it's a local company..but I'm not crazy<g>) if they began to liquidate some of their ski areas and pay down some debt..I don't think there is enough demand or faith in the company to bring much excitement to any equity for debt offering..If you want to own a recreational based stock(SeaDoo, SkiDoo) and get a kick ass aerospace,rail transportation and financial division for free..Buy Bombardier (they also make snowcats)..BBDb.to..just reported fantastic earnings-again But, they never seem to get the respect they deserve<g>,which is..the company is a baby GE<vbg> MONTREAL, March 15 (Reuters) - Fourth-quarter profit at Bombardier Inc. (Toronto:BBDb.TO - news) gained altitude on stronger aircraft sales and a turnaround in its recreational vehicles division, the plane, train and snowmobile maker said on Thursday. Bombardier, the world's third-largest civil aircraft maker, said net profit before unusual items was C$348 million ($223 million), or 25 Canadian cents a share, in the fourth quarter ended Jan. 31, sneaking in just above analysts' expectations. That compared with a net profit before unusual items of C$271.4 million, or 19 Canadian cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Revenues were C$5.6 billion versus C$4.4 billion. Despite the current economic slowdown, Bombardier president and chief executive Robert Brown maintained the company's earnings growth target of 30 to 40 percent for fiscal 2002 and 20 to 30 percent for fiscal 2003. (gosh, is it an internet company<lol!> ``These targets are based on our backlog of orders in aerospace and transportation, on the performance of our recreational products segment and on our focused strategy in financial services,'' Brown said, adding he expected the economic rebound to start only next year. Brown also denied in a conference call that the Canadian transportation giant had been approached by airline clients wishing to trim down or cancel plane orders to weather the economic downturn. ``We have not seen any cancellations in any of the areas of the regional aircraft,'' he said. Bombardier said its overall order backlog reached C$31.7 billion at the end of the quarter, compared with C$27.2 billion a year earlier. The aerospace backlog increased to C$23.0 billion from C$18.9 billion, while the transportation backlog went to C$8.7 billion from C$8.3 billion. As for European Commission approval of its proposed $725 million purchase of DaimlerChrysler AG's Adtranz passenger railcar unit, Brown said he was confident the company would get a a green light within ``three or four weeks''. This transaction would place Bombardier in the front carriage of the world railcar industry and would put the transportation and aerospace sectors almost at par in its revenue mix. Brown acknowledged the company had to make certain concessions in order to alleviate the antitrust watchdog's fears of Bombardier's dominance in the marketplace, especially in Germany. ``(The concessions) were not major and it did not change the economic or strategic value of the transaction for us,'' he said. In the fourth quarter, the aerospace division once again was the main engine of growth, with revenues climbing to C$3.9 billion from C$2.8 billion, and operating income edging to C$462.5 million from C$341.4 million. The increase came despite Bombardier's ongoing dogfight with Brazil's Embraer in the lucrative regional jet market. Thanks in part to good snowfalls this winter, the revenues in the recreational products division rose to C$561 million, from C$511.5 million in the previous fourth quarter. Operating income of the recently restructured division responsible for snowmobiles and personal watercraft, such as the Ski-Doo and Sea-Doo, jumped to C$44 million from C$11.9 million. The transportation sector saw its revenues reach C$879.4 million, compared with C$857 million a year earlier, while operating income scaled back to C$25.4 million from C$40.6 million. Bombardier Capital, the company's financing arm, generated revenues of C$302.5 million compared with C$232 million. The unit's operating results showed a C$49.2 million loss, compared to a C$2.8 million profit in the previous quarter, as the company increased by C$49.5 million its balance sheet allowance in the manufactured housing portfolio to cope with a slowdown in the U.S. housing market. ``We think it was prudent, given the economic situation, to take an extra provision on the balance sheet,'' Brown said. No special item were recorded in the latest quarter. The previous fourth quarter had a special gain of C$17.4 million. The consensus estimate of seven analysts polled by First Call/Thomson Financial was for a profit of 24 Canadian cents a share. Bombardier's class B shares slipped 36 Canadian cents to C$20.20 on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Thursday. The stock has ranged from a low of C$14.55 to a high of C$26.70 over the past 52 weeks. ($1 equals $1.56 Canadian) finance.yahoo.com