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| Tue, Jan 15, 2008 | ||
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Lifecore Biomedical Receives Buyout Offer
Lifecore Biomedical Inc. (
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Market News
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Unusual 11 Mid-Day Movers 1/15: OCN, LCBM, VIGN Higher; MGI, CWTR, HIBB, EDU Lower
Visit StreetInsider.com at http://www.streetinsider.com/news.php?st=p&id=3266095 for the full story.
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StreetInsider
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Lifecore Biomedical to be acquired by PE firm, reports Q2 results below the Street
Shares of Lifecore Biomedical, Inc. (
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SmallCapInvestor.com
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Notable Mergers and Acquisitions of the Day 1/15 (LCBM, PNM, IACI)
Visit StreetInsider.com at http://www.streetinsider.com/news.php?st=p&id=3265675 for the full story.
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StreetInsider
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Opening Bell Report
The markets opened sharply lower as a disappointing quarterly report from Citigroup rekindled fears of a recession. The Dow tumbled 135 points to 12,642 while Nasdaq plunged 42 points to 2435.
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| Mon, Oct 15, 2007 | ||
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The Greek's Week Ahead - The Growth Hoax
The Greek's Week Ahead has been engineered to prepare you for the events that could impact your portfolio this week.
At times like these, when the Fed seeks to stimulate economic growth, the sector that should benefit most is growth oriented and "low quality" shares in our view. However, we view the current market environment illusory, and providing a sort of growth hoax that we expect will be exposed after the Fed's Halloween meeting. Expansionary measures are meant to help firms find capital to finance growth at times when a little extra incentive is useful. In that type of environment, the firms that benefit most are the ones financing growth in ways other than through the use of operating cash flow. These are riskier firms, the kind without earnings but with high hopes and debt. At the risk of getting too technical... They benefit also because most, if not all, of their value is found in the terminal portion of the discounted cash flow model, the part outside of the forecast period and most sensitive to changes in cost of capital. In the period after the start of the Fed's most recent expansionary spurring, you remember the one after the tech bubble burst in 2000-2002, there was an initial premature market rebound before the realization of a tough environment sent stocks lower. However in 2003, when it was clear Fed support would help the economy find traction, it was the "low quality" shares that outperformed. That period taught me a lesson that I noted well. I learned that lesson as I watched a sell recommendation rise ahead of many of my better run "buy" names. That sell idea that burned the painful, though useful, memory into my young analytical skull was FuelCell Technology ( The current period is considered by many, if not most, as one characterized by the start of Fed expansionary efforts, and this may be behind the outperformance of "riskier" industries of late. For instance, the S&P Biotechnology group is up 10.3% in the 13 weeks through October 5. Over that same 13 week period, the Information Technology sector (+4.9%) is second in performance only to energy (+5.5%), but $80+ oil has a lot to do with that sector's leadership. I believe the rug (or ruse) of Fed bias is about to be pulled out from under the market. If this latest Fed maneuver is representative of a "one and done" type move, as I outlined on the day of the cut, then the current market run may be short-lived for these names. The hoax would be exposed and the old favorite defensive names would come back to favor, while riskier stocks would lose their luster just as they were starting to polish up. The way to play this sometime between my publishing of this article and a week ahead of Halloween, is to go short the industries that got hot around the cut, and long the names that got cold around that same time. Now let's take a look at the week ahead... Outside of earnings season revving up into full swing, a rather light event week kicks off Monday with the 8:30 a.m. EDT reporting of the Empire State Manufacturing Index. The October measure of the state of manufacturing in the New York area is seen reaching 12.5 in October, down from September's reading of 14.7, according to Bloomberg's consensus of economists. Last month's figure was a significant disappointment, with expectations for a reading of 20. The day marks the debut of CNBC's new formidable rival, the Fox Business Network. Markets will be closed in Argentina, Chile and Columbia, marking Columbus Day. I guess it took him a few more days to discover South America? Did you know he landed first in the Bahamas? In the evening, Ben Bernanke will keep some economists attuned to the wire as he speaks to the Economic Club of New York, no doubt over a New York strip steak. Monday's earnings slate is headlined by Citigroup ( Others reporting on Monday include Alfacel (
In light of the approaching Federal Open Market Committee meeting on Halloween, be sure to catch Tuesday's weekly same-store sales report from the International Council of Shopping Centers-UBS. Last week's report showed very soft year-to-year sales growth of just 2.1%, and the retail sales report for September showed misleading strength inflated by transactions of expensive gasoline and unexplained auto sales improvement.
Industrial Production for the month of September is expected to increase 0.1%, according to Bloomberg's consensus. That's down from last month's 0.2% increase and July's 0.3% growth. Economists are still figuring out whether this trend is indicative of cautious production ahead of softening domestic end-demand, or change driven by real economic downturn today. Capacity utilization is seen slipping just modestly though, to 82.1% from 82.2%. Treasury International Capital for the month of August is set for report Tuesday. Foreign demand for long-term U.S. securities dipped in the last report to $19.2 billion in July, from $120.9 billion in June. With the dollar sinking, one would expect September's report to show up weak, no matter what happened in August. This is likely something the Federal Reserve will pay attention to, and certainly the Treasury Secretary will. Speaking of the dollar, the Bank of Canada is set to decide what to do with its interest rates, and given signs of Canadian economic weakness cited in the FOMC meeting minutes released last week, we would not expect action detrimental to the U.S. dollar relationship. The National Association of Homebuilders' Housing Market Index is expected to set a new all-time low in October, according to Barron's and Lehman Brothers, after its recent record breaking bottom of 20 in September of this year. Tuesday's earnings report schedule will be headlined by a couple of tech giants, as Intel ( The rest of the day's earnings reporters include A.O. Smith (
On Wednesday, we'll get a look at how higher producer prices may have impacted consumer prices. It's more likely that higher energy prices found their way into the Core CPI figure than they did in the Core PPI, reported last week up just 0.1%. The headline PPI measure was up 1.1% on changes in food and energy prices. Regarding the September CPI metric, Bloomberg's consensus expects a 0.2% increase across the board. While it's not the Fed favored metric, pay close attention to whether the year-over-year CPI growth fits into the Fed tolerable range of 1%-2%. September Housing Starts are expected to fall to a 1.3 million annual pace, down from August's 1.33 million, thus continuing the well-documented slide of housing. On that note, the Mortgage Bankers Association makes its regular Purchase Applications report early Wednesday, but it will likely be muted by the more important Housing Starts data. With oil rising against all odds, at least on the Greek's book, the EIA will report its regular inventory data at the usual 10:30 time. You would think that with the economy slowing, oil prices should trim some fat, but as the dollar weakens, the relative value of commodities rise. At 2:00 p.m. the obscure sounding but actually important Beige Book will display a compilation of the Fed's regional reports. Much can be gleaned here about how the Fed is thinking heading into the Halloween meeting. We may get some anecdotal evidence about the state of employment on Wednesday, with the simultaneous earnings reports from Labor Ready ( The remainder of Wednesday's earnings reports include Abbott Labs (
On Thursday, Weekly Initial Jobless Claims are seen measuring 312,000 in the Labor Department's latest reporting. Last week, the list of new benefits filers amounted to 308,000. Remember, this list does NOT include old slaves to the corporate box, who have been recently converted to babble producing bloggers in an empty box, like muah? Hey, if you can't laugh at yourself, then you probably have not made a blog post at 3 a.m. yet! The Conference Board will produce its Leading Indicators Index still too late for the Fed to use in its new effort to predict economic change (God bless em). The month-to-month change in the figure is expected by Bloomberg's consensus to show increase of 0.3% in September, after a 0.6% decrease in August. The EIA Natural Gas inventory report is due at 10:30, while hurricane season comes to an end. At noon, the Philly Fed Index should show Philadelphia area manufacturing sentiment decreased versus the prior month. Bloomberg published a consensus estimate for a reading of 7.0 this time around, compared to 10.9 in September. Thursday is the day Google ( The remainder of Thursday's earnings schedule includes A. Schulman (
China's H-Shares get a day off, as the Hong Kong market is closed on Friday. The Group of Seven finance minsters is set to meet in Washington at the end of the week, and many experts are anticipating pressure on Treasury Secretary Paulson to do something about the troubled dollar. William Poole and Ben Bernanke will address a group together on Friday, as they discuss "Monetary Policy Under Uncertainty." We wonder if Mr. Poole will define his usage of the word "calamity" and if he understands now when and when not to use such language. Reporting earnings at the week's close, look for news from Dow global growth stories, Caterpillar ( If you would like to advertise in the space below our articles, we are now offering tailored plans, including assistance in ad design. Contact us at WallStreetGreek@gmail.com to find out more. (disclosure) 
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| Mon, Aug 13, 2007 | ||
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The Greek's Week Ahead - The Fed, Treating the Symptoms
Following the central bank actions of the past few days, the question begs to be asked, are we treating the disease or its symptoms... This rhetorical question clearly communicates the view of Wall Street Greek. Let's just hope the band-aid sticks long enough for the bleeding to stop.
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Wall Street Greek
The stubborn Fed and it's shell-shocked chairman seem likely to hold steady now regarding interest rates. We do not expect an emergency Fed action, however necessary we view it. Counterparties to this debate will argue that the global economy is healthy, and American economic growth is strong. My friends, to this we simply state that the easiest prognostication to believe, or to make others believe, is a continuation of the present environment. To intelligently go in another direction would require missing a golf round at the club or brunch at the Four Seasons, a serious disruption to the prognosticator day-plan. God forbid! So, the status quo is a safe bet, and the easiest to back off from when you're wrong. Wall Street Greek believes the Fed must cut interest rates to help mortgage bearers navigate the minefield of their own making. It would stabilize the housing market, allow borrowers to renegotiate into manageable loans, and stabilize secondary markets for mortgage-backed securities. We anticipate the current path will do nothing to support flailing consumer spending, the linchpin of the American economy. The Fed's buying of MBS is helping the hedge funds and investment banks out of trouble, which is helping avoid a near-term market crash. But, this is just a symptom of the larger disease. The Fed has to recognize this before it's too late to avoid recession, in our view. However, the direction the central bank has chosen seems set. Let's take a look at the week ahead... Monday starts the week with the July retail sales data at 8:30 a.m. Since this particular edition of our week ahead was written and published on Monday, we already have the results for you. July retail sales came in up 0.3%, compared to the low-bar consensus forecast for a rise of 0.2%, as compiled by Bloomberg. Excluding auto sales, which were down, sales rose 0.4% and met expectations. Separating out autos, gasoline and building materials, sales climbed 0.6% after a 0.3% rise the month before. Even so, retail sales are currently trending below last year, and last week's individual retail reports indicated the consumer is not spending in the mall. This has led many to refer to this year's "back to school" shopping season as late. We wonder if they mean late, as in "not on time," or late as in dead. Seasonal sales should show an up-tick over prior months, but we need to study sales versus prior year results now to weed out the impact of back to school. June Business Inventories were reported at 10:00 EDT on Monday, and they came in as expected. The rise of 0.4% compared to May's increase of 0.5%. While the data is valuable in isolation, the comparison of inventory to sales enhances the value of the metric. However, the ratio measured 1.27 in June, compared to 1.26 in May. We are looking backward with this figure, so we suspect July and August are probably not reflective of the environment that existed in June and May. We mean to say that we expect retail is weakening, and as a result business inventories should be rising based on light sales or falling based on conservative inventory stocking. Either event is bad, but the sales drop-off dynamic would be worse. Monday's earnings schedule included American Railcar Industries ( Tuesday morning brings the weekly ICSC-UBS Same-Store Sales Report. Last week's data indicated a weekly same-store sales decline of 0.3% and year-over-year increase of 3.1% for the week ended August 4th. We continue to expect year-to-year comparisons to soften as 2007 progresses. Two important economic data bits will be reported at 8:30 a.m. EDT. June international trade is expected to show the trade deficit widened by a billion dollars to $61.0 billion, according to Bloomberg's consensus of economists. The July Producer Price Index is expected to show an increase of 0.1%, and a 0.2% rise less food and energy. Inflation concerns have kept the Fed from cutting rates to help the mortgage market. Since we continue to view food and energy prices important to consumers and driven by secular factors, not seasonal or cyclical, we'll be watching the headline figure. Ironically, economic concerns pressure energy prices lower, so if the market disagrees with the Fed, inflation as defined by the headline figure, should ease off a bit. We regard longer term (quarterly) trends more important as energy is volatile month-to-month, regardless of the secular trend. The European Commission is scheduled to report its quarterly growth expectation for the region. Also, the Wall Street Analysts Forum kicks off its conference on Tuesday with presentations planned from Vista Gold ( Home Depot ( Greek businesses are closed on Wednesday for the celebration of Assumption Day, as are markets in Austria, Chile, Poland, India and South Korea. I will miss celebrating the holiday with friends at one of the great fortress villages of my island ancestors. I ask my compadres to please spill a glass of ouzo for me, and to place one within the zeimbekiko circle alit with fire in my memory. I hope to rejoin you next year. The Bank of England will publish the minutes of its August meeting. Central bank meeting minutes should start to become more interesting going forward. In other news, for those of you interested in playing the nuclear energy card, Van Eck Global launches its Market Vectors-Nuclear Energy ETF on Wednesday. Economists will be closely attuned to the wire on Wednesday morning for a slew of economic data. The regular Mortgage Bankers Association Purchase Application report starts us off at 7:00 a.m. At 8:30, the Consumer Price Index is expected to post a 0.1% increase for July, and a 0.2% rise excluding food and energy prices. Also at 8:30, the Empire State Manufacturing Survey is expected to measure 18.0, versus 26.5 in July. Then at 9:15, monthly industrial production will be reported. Bloomberg's consensus is expecting a July increase of 0.2%, and capacity utilization of 81.8%. This compares to June's growth of 0.5% and capacity utilization of 81.7%. At 10:30, commodity traders will be anxiously awaiting the weekly petroleum inventory report. Finally, at 1:00 p.m., the National Association of Home Builders will be set to report the Housing Market Index. Most will be expecting a gloomy mood and report from the industry players. The Wall Street Analysts Forum will begin day two of its conference, with presentations from Mechanical Tech ( Thursday will likely be keyed by two important economic drivers, housing and jobs. At 8:30 a.m., Housing Starts for July are expected to report a running annual pace of 1.41 million, compared to 1.467 million in June. Consolidation in the housing industry is now happening at a fast pace, and we expect to see further bankruptcy and property write-off in the near-term. However, we believe we may now be nearing an opportune time to pick at a housing stock, and we have one in mind. If our due diligence supports our theory, we will tell you which one soon enough. Also at 8:30, the Labor Department will report Initial Weekly Jobless Claims. Bloomberg's consensus expects 315k for the week ended August 11. We expect consumer softness and retail weakness to soon have this number on the rise, but first look to the monthly Employment Situation Report to show lower levels of new hiring. The EIA will report natural gas inventory at 10:30 a.m. as usual, and at noon EDT, the Philadelphia Federal Reserve will report its region's manufacturing survey. The August reading is expected to be 8.0, compared to 9.2 in July. Finally, money supply will be reported as usual at 4:30 p.m. All of a sudden, this is a mainstream news bit, thanks to recent central bank activity. The Wall Street Analysts Forum will close on Thursday with presentations from Lexington Realty Trust ( Earnings reports are anticipated from a few of the major retailers, including Kohl's ( Friday wraps up the busy week with the University of Michigan's Consumer Sentiment Report for August. Bloomberg's consensus is looking for a reading of 88.0, compared to July's 92.4. We think the measure could be worse, and we expect it to certainly trend lower in months to come, but this is not new news, as the overriding trend through the year has been on the downslide. In other news Friday, St. Louis Fed Chief, William Poole, is scheduled to address a group about U.S. export opportunities. Poole has been vociferous about keeping the Fed funds rate unchanged, and has become sort of the archenemy of CNBC's Jim Cramer. Friday's earnings reports include Concurrent Computer ( Receive Wall Street Greek via email by subscribing here . If you change your mind, it's easy to unsubscribe. We respect your privacy and will not share your information with any third party. ( disclosure )
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| More Blogs | ||
| Conference Calls for LCBM |
| 01/15/08 |
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Q2 2008 Earnings
Lifecore Biomedical Business Update and Fiscal 2008 2nd Quarter Earnings Archive for LCBM |
| 10/16/07 |
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Q1 2008 Earnings
Archive for LCBM |
| 09/25/07 |
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Special Conference
Archive for LCBM |
| 09/05/07 |
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Special Conference
Lifecore Biomedical, Inc. to Present at the Thomas Weisel Partners Healthcare Conference Archive for LCBM |
| 08/20/07 |
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Special Conference
Lifecore Biomedical to Present at the Noble Financial Two Double-0-Seven Conference Archive for LCBM |
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