 |
 | |
 |  |
| 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. |
By popular demand, and coinciding with a market high on a stock with one of the worst earnings and growth prospects I have ever seen, I am launching the BFT thread. Let's start with the recent mention of BIT as an overprice stock in Barron's current Cover Story: "Too, Too Much!": "Indeed, the shares of most service-sector providers aren't in the bargain bin;. Bally Total Fitness, a chain of health clubs spun off in '96 from Bally Entertainment, has nearly quintupled, to 27, since May. According to First Call, the company's likely to earn about 37 cents a share this year." The key reason for the impressive run up in price has been significant accumulation by the heavy weights of a small cap stock. The top ten institutional shareholders currently hold over 41% of the float (these include Fidelity and Janus). In addition, BFIT is now the largest holding of the Pioneer Small Company Fund, and the second largest holding of Janus Special Situations Fund. The sudden interest in BFIT sparked from a turnaround promise following Bally's Entertainment spun-off the company to its stockholders on January 9, 1996. The turnaround promise was based on the following: 1. The hiring of a new CEO with no experience in the business: Lee S. Hillman. 2. Emphasis on sales of their controversial long term - three year memberships which are virtually impossible to cancel and financed at pretty high rates. 3. Improved facilities coupled with the development of alternate sources of revenue. In the age of customer satisfaction, customer deception seems to be the key driving force behind BFIT's business plan! They coerce people, frequently young low income folks, into signing three year contracts with a present value of over 1,000 dollars. This contracts are financed at high rates and are virtually impossible to cancel. There are so many angry customers out there that a site devoted exclusively to complaints has attracted a significant number of responses. Hundreds of complaints have been posted, and this is just the "tip of the iceberg". It is interesting to see that the so called "turnaround efforts" have not diminished the rate of contract related and "other types" of complaint. use. Link to complaints by date: compupix.com Link to main page in which you can get complaints by topic and other interesting inf. [scroll towards the bottom] compupix.com More on the Financials in the next post..... | ||||||||||||||
|
| Home | Hot | SubjectMarks | PeopleMarks | Keepers | Settings |
| Terms Of Use | Contact Us | Copyright/IP Policy | Privacy Policy | About Us | FAQ | Advertise on SI |
| © 2026 Knight Sac Media. Data provided by Twelve Data, Alpha Vantage, and CityFALCON News |