Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

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

To: Paul Senior who wrote (15357)	8/29/2002 4:32:07 AM
From: Dale Baker	Respond to of 78705

FINL is interesting - but compare them to KSWS, especially the margins and return on equity and assets. Something about FINL's operations is much less profitable (I didn't dig deep enough to figure out what) so they get a much lower price-sales multiple. I will probably add more KSWS today on this small drop, their profile looks pretty nice. biz.yahoo.com

To: Paul Senior who wrote (15357)	8/29/2002 8:26:24 AM
From: Dale Baker	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 78705

Looks like the sector will take a hit today: 08:12 ET FINL Finish Line lowers guidance (10.49) Retailer reducing Q2 outlook to a range of $0.34-$0.36 from previous guidance of $0.45-$0.47 (Multex consensus $0.47). For Q3, co sees a loss of $0.11-$0.13 (consensus -$0.08). Puts Q4 earnings at $0.35-$0.37 (consensus $0.39). "The promotional environment for the back to school period has been very high and we have reacted with increased price promotions in our stores, which has led to lower than expected product margins."

To: Paul Senior who wrote (15357)	9/5/2002 8:21:03 AM
From: Bob Rudd	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 78705

PAUL - NCR: The jewel here is Teradata data warehousing where they are gaining share and improving margins...looking forward to 10-15% growth over next 2 years in that area. Teradat may at some point be spun to monetize value. Rest of it is pretty sluggish. An upgrade cycle in Europe to adapt to Euro 1-2 years ago is slowing atm products. Retail automation is driven by retail capex which in turn is driven by retail profits...sluggish: MRQ -22%. Worrisome is this excerpt I came across in a broker report: "Pension income was down in 2Q from $33 million a year ago to $19 million, but that was still 40% of pretax income." Pension income is driven by strong market performance or playing games with assumptions...neither of which looks promising going forward. Also, share buybacks just offset options. NCR is selling at 'value multiples'..but it usually does. I've owned it before but currently have no position...may buy some on a dip. Meanwhile, a bit more digging into that pension stuff may be in order. Sorry to be late responding.