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Non-Tech : Whole Foods Market (WFM) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: marcher who wrote (192)	8/11/1998 12:05:00 AM
From: Beltropolis Boy	Respond to of 438

comments from jim jubak. ----- Posted 8/7/98 Updates New Developments on Past Columns Hats Off to Market Cap In a market like this, a company doesn't need to do more than stub its toe to take a tumble. Whole Foods Markets (WFMI) fell $16 a share -- about 30% -- in the two days after the company reported earnings on Aug. 4. Even though it beat Wall Street estimates by a penny, reporting earnings of 40 cents a share, up 21% from the similar period in 1997. The company's sins? Some new stores are taking longer to open than expected, and that will delay some sales growth by a quarter. Margins fell by 0.6 percentage points (60 basis points) due to higher product costs and the timing of a marketing campaign at the company's nutritional supplements subsidiary, Amrion. Total effect of that? One analyst cut the company's fiscal 1999 projected earnings from $2.08 to $2.02. The real hit to the stock actually seems to have come from outside the company. General Nutrition (GNCI), a maker of nutritional supplements that competes with Amrion, cut prices on some products, leading investors to worry about falling margins in that business. The entire sector fell on the General Nutrition news -- even companies like Whole Foods whose major business is selling natural and organic groceries. Rexall Sundown (RXSD), for example, fell 23%. I think the market has overreacted. This is a good chance to pick up a great company at a good price. investor.msn.com