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Strategies & Market Trends : Value Investing -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dale Baker who wrote (12977)	8/27/2001 3:18:26 AM
From: Paul Senior	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 78782

Hi Dale. I'll type a few paragraphs here about GFF, a stock you've bought and that I have a Very small position in. finance.yahoo.com GFF is a small company that's a conglomerate. Being both a conglomerate and small too could mean the company doesn't really have the resources to compete effectively in its various businesses. OTOH, I generally like to look at the positives of being a conglomerate - if one part of the business is sour, others might be thriving. Plus sometimes divestiture is a value-enhancing option with disparate businesses. GFF is one of the biggest manufacturers and marketers of garage doors (e.g. Home Depot in retail as well as supporting professional installers and dealers). It's also in specialty plastic films (used in diapers, for example) and "telephonics" (a word that when associated with CLECS, fibre optics, etc. doesn't give much reassurance now). I bought my position based on downtrodden home building stocks showing increasing new home sales and my impression that GFF is actually a hidden defense contractor too because the "telephonics" relate - partly - to AWACS and other radar and military communications. The company has increased sales from somewhat over $.5 billion in '95 to over $1 billion currently. Right now, as the stock is up, the price/sales, p/earnings, p/book figures look "reasonable" - although not imo, bargain-basement inexpensive. I can't recall a single homebuilding-supply company stock that was mentioned here that has not gone up in price. Although I'm showing a profit in GFF too, I've been wrong about GFF's garage door business (They had a 2nd q. operating loss.), and also wrong to be indifferent to their plastics business (which surprised me with "substantial earnings growth"). I live in a beachy urban area. House building here is exclusively with very small in-fills and tear-downs. Last week I saw my first super large (my term) garage doors in a new home under construction. (Larger garage doors to accommodate those large SUV's.) I have been waiting for this, so I'm hopeful that GFF's door business will improve if nationwide home construction continues and these large garage doors become more recognized and more desired. I continue to hold my GFF position. fwiw Paul S.