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

To: Michael Burry who wrote (6907)	4/23/1999 12:36:00 AM
From: Bob Rudd	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 78520

Mike: If I were long this, I'd comb the subset of numbers associated with those 900 stores and then ask management some hard questions about how much it costs to close 'em, and/or fix em and how they plan to go about doing so. Maybe I'm wrong; maybe they've got a great plan..Dreman must think so, but it sure doesn't look like it. You've already got investor sentiment and momentum against this [Lot's of folks look'n for info hiway roadkill]...and you know how tough that is to overcome, even if the business is dazzling. The mall-based book selling business has never, IMO, been dazzling, and recent market changes make it unlikely it will ever be. This quote from the Jan 98 10K, <<. The Walden 0.0% comparable store sales reflects flat mall traffic levels and the impact of increased superstore competition offset by the benefit of new merchandising initiatives. Walden also experienced a benefit from a larger number of seasonal calendar kiosks introduced in malls with existing Walden stores.>> read "merchendising initiatives" as "we dropped the price". And this was before the net bookselling armada really emerged from the fog with cannons blazing. The spirit of all this is that it's less painful to confront potential errors in this forum than on the P&L statement. One thing I like about this group is that it helps me see flaws that might otherwise take a chunk outa my hide. Be well, Bob