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Non-Tech : Natural/Health Food Industry Stocks -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tom_ who wrote (82)	11/11/1998 11:28:00 PM
From: organicgerry	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 337

I just got home and saw the WFMI numbers. Since they just met expectations at 21% growth (put into perspective, that's not bad at all), I think the conference call tomorrow will carry a lot of weight with the analysts. To me, the most bullish part was where it said 29 stores are under development, this is a third of the existing number of stores. Expectations for a 19 percent increase in profits (from 1.65 to 2.00) will easily be greatly exceeded with a 33 percent increase in stores, not even counting increases in comps. The stage is set for exceeding expectations in the future. This is true not only of WFMI, but also OATS, TWLB, and other industry stocks that are oversold. The analysts have sold these stocks down because of bad results from competitors that don't have a clue. What they haven't figured out yet is that GNC and the commodity nutrition companies are doing poorly because OATS, WFMI, TWLB, and NTOL are taking away their business.

To: Tom_ who wrote (82)	11/12/1998 6:42:00 AM
From: Mao II	Respond to of 337

Tomabre: RE: "...OK. What about the future? Hmm, 1Q 99 comps running 6%..." I think this must have played a major role in the recent sell off; and I would think mgmt would address it in CC. Best, M2

To: Tom_ who wrote (82)	11/12/1998 8:40:00 PM
From: Beltropolis Boy	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 337

Whole Foods Market 'solidly on track' By Khanh T.L. Tran, CBS MarketWatch Last Update: 4:33 PM ET Nov 12, 1998 AUSTIN, Texas (CBS.MW) -- Whole Foods Market stock jumped more than 20 percent Thursday after the company reported fourth-quarter earnings on target with analysts' expectations and analyst BT Alex. Brown reiterated its "strong buy" rating on the company's stock. The natural foods supermarket chain (WFMI) reported earnings of $11.1 million, or 40 cents per share, compared to earnings of $8.5 million, or 33 cents per share, for the same period a year ago. Whole Foods matched Wall Street's consensus estimate. Sales in the fourth quarter were $326.2 million, a 21-percent increase from the year ago's, $270.5 million. "By all standards of financial performance, fiscal year 1998 has been the greatest year in our company's history," said John Mackey, Whole Foods' chairman and chief executive officer, in a statement. "Our business is solidly on track." The supermarket chain received an additional boost after analyst Barbara Miller at BT Alex. Brown repeated her "strong buy" rating on the company's stock. As the dominant specialty retailer in its sector, Whole Foods is "well positioned to ride the continued growth in the natural foods market," Miller said. Whole Foods is expected to open 10 new stores in the upcoming fiscal year, and has raised the number of new stores planned for fiscal year 2000 to between 15 and 20 from between 12 and 16 new stores, according to the analyst report. "We see this as a positive for the company," Miller wrote, explaining that Whole Foods will likely see higher sales and earnings growth in fiscal year 2000 relative to fiscal year 1999 results. Miller sees fiscal year 1999 earnings of $2.02 per share. Whole Foods operates 87 stores in almost 20 states. Shares rose 6 13/16, or 20.5 percent, to close at 40 1/16 Thursday.