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Biotech / Medical : Biosource International -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: steven Probst who wrote (581)	10/29/1998 10:41:00 PM
From: Joe Dancy	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 696

OK guys. Here's the information from BIOI's latest quarter and my editorial take. All the questions I asked the company were addressed in the conference call - prior to any questions being asked by the participants. In my dealings with the Company they have taken pride at being straightforward and ethical - and IMO have done one heck of a job making presentations at various investor conferences around the country. A year or so ago they were here in Dallas, and I was out of town and Dave Kurtz made the meeting. He was impressed with the presentation and the professionalism of this management. In my dealings with BIOI they have always been very responsive and honest IMO - a very positive feature. Only two other companies that I follow are as investor friendly to individual investors - Dycom (when you call the IR department at that NYSE listed company the CEO returns your call) and Align Rite. When you have such small cap companies institutions are limited as to how active they can get and the share they can take in the company - and I'm convinced that the IR interaction helps fuel investor interest in BIOI - and demand for the shares - which ultimately reflects, or will reflect, in the price of the shares. Earnings before the write-off were $.10 per share - in line with analysts' estimates. The SEC in general does not like companies reporting estimated earnings where you have charges as it is not a normal reporting procedure - so this number was not in the press release but was in the conference call. Having dealt with SEC reporting requirements at the company I work for I can understand some of the disclosure problems and rules - and the fact that you don't want to issue an annual report length treatise to explain fully the quarterly earnings calculations. Book value per share is $3.04. Mentioned in the conference call. Company is selling at 1.1 times book versus 1.0 before the write off. Cheap, IMO, in either case. There aren't any material inventory adjustments expected in the future. This was mentioned on the conference call. Japan/Asia effect: There has not been any negative effects from this area of the world at all. In fact, BIOI's Japan sales increased 21% 3rd quarter 1998 over 1997. Again, this was mentioned on the conference call. In fact I noticed on the Yahoo thread someone claiming the Japan sales, or lack thereof, would harm the company - and had to wonder whether this person was discussing the same company I've invested in. Acquisitions will be accretive starting in 1999. Company strategy and acquisitions were mentioned in the conference call. Company was very proud of the revenue growth - the street had jumped all over them about that - and they finally got things kicked into gear. From an investors standpoint - or at least to me - revenue growth is very important, is a lot easier to increase earnings when revenues are growing than when they are stagnant or shrinking. One thing I like about this company in the past calls was that one of their strategies for growth was by acquisitions - in fact it is mentioned in the 10K - but they will not buy a company just to grow - they need for the acquisition to make economic sense before they will spend their bucks. In previous quarters they mentioned they walked away from a number of deals because the economics were not there. I've seen so many acquisitions in the industry I work in that make no economic sense - the acquiring company pays way too much for the company being bought, sort of like Warren Buffett says a "chain letter in reverse" - and I respect a management that can "just say no" if the selling company wants too much. I've seen some real junk bought for incredible sums, only later to be written off when the "corporate strategy changes." Transcript of the conference call is not available, nor is a replay. I still like the company, and am very close to owning 1% of it. Maybe if I buy enough someday I'll be on the Board of Directors. :) Best - Joe