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.

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

To: Ann Williams who wrote (562)	1/24/1999 11:04:00 PM
From: Steven Dopp	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 828

What is your view of my club's concerns with SFSK's high debt load, foreign manufacturing facilities, ability to maintain low tax rates, etc?

To: Ann Williams who wrote (562)	1/31/1999 11:44:00 PM
From: Beltropolis Boy	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 828

Safeskin Looks for New Markets Bloomberg News January 29, 1999, 6:02 p.m. PT New York, Jan. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Richard Jaffe, chairman and chief executive of Safeskin Corp., seldom misses an opportunity to plug his company. Safeskin is the leading maker of disposable latex examination gloves for the U.S. medical market. When Jaffe, 45, did an on-camera interview this week, he donned a purple Safeskin glove and even tried, unsuccessfully, to persuade the journalist to wear one as well. Jaffe will need to continue to hone his sales skills to meet his goals for the San Diego-based company. At a time when the stock is under-performing indexes, Jaffe intends to push Safeskin into new businesses in the hope of capitalizing on its brand recognition. ''We are now looking at products in information services (and) logistics services,,'' Jaffe told the Bloomberg Forum. ''What we do is to anticipate future customer needs.'' The next product to come from Safeskin ''could be infection control, operating room products -- anything that we can service through our sales force or through our technology.'' Jaffe said that ''without being specific on products, there are many different areas.'' Safeskin could expand its business of servicing the semiconductor industry, he said. ''The products are limitless,'' Jaffe said. ''The real question is what is the customer going to need three years from now that (they) are not happy with today.'' Shareholders hope that Jaffe's ideas will propel Safeskin's stock. The shares have lost 12 percent of their value in the past 12 months and, since small-company stocks rebounded beginning Oct. 8, the shares have dropped 6 percent. Safeskin's shares gained 7/16 to close at 24 3/8. ''The stock is taking a little pressure, but all the fundamentals are in place and it will continue to grow,'' he said. Jaffe, a native of Great Neck, New York, is pleased about Safeskin's results. ''Actually, the performance is outstanding,'' he said. ''Our revenue for the year-to-date is up 30 percent; our earnings are (up) 50 percent.'' Shares Drop Nonetheless, Safeskin's shares fell 13 percent on Oct. 29 after Salomon Smith Barney analyst Melissa Wilmoth reduced her investment rating on the stock to ''neutral'' from ''buy.'' Wilmoth was concerned the company's sales would slow. ''That was a one-quarter issue,'' Jaffe said. ''Expectations got out of line.'' Perhaps, but many Safeskin stockholders can't be pleased with the company's performance during the past year. The stock reached a high of 46 3/16 on July 16 and fell to a low of 18 1/8 on Dec. 16. Asked to make a forecast on Safeskin's shares, he said: ''I don't predict stock prices. We have a commitment to grow the top line, the bottom line (by), 25 percent year after year, and quarter after quarter and we expect to do that.'' Jaffe said Safeskin has a target that 25 percent of the company's revenue comes from products introduced in the last three years. Innovative Evans Kissi, analyst for Joseph Stevens & Co., compares Safeskin to Gillette Co., which makes such disposable products as razor blades for men and women. ''Like Gillette, too, Safeskin is innovative,'' said Kissi, who has a ''buy'' rating on the stock. He said Safeskin has a market share of 40 percent to 50 percent in the disposable latex glove business. ''Safeskin came up with powder-free gloves so medical professionals could avoid getting allergic reactions from regular gloves.'' Safeskin has a tradition of innovation. In 1987, to lower the risk of HIV infection, the Centers for Disease Control urged health care workers coming into contact with bodily fluids to wear gloves and similar protective devices. During that year, an engineer named Neil Braverman founded Safeskin and the company started making latex gloves in Malaysia the next year. The following year, Safeskin began producing the nation's first hypoallergenetic latex examination glove. The first powder- free version of it arrived one year after that. The company went public in 1993. Shareholders can only hope that Safeskin can do as well as it has done since its debut in the stock market. In the past five years, the shares have returned an annual 46 percent, more than 4 times that of the Russell 2000 Index of small-company stocks in the same period.