HEROES
KREISLER MANUFACTURING CORP. <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(Nasdaq: KRSL)") else Response.Write("(Nasdaq: KRSL)") end if %> exploded $13 higher today
to $21 after investors digested the company's recent 4Q and year-end
financials.
Kreisler fabricates metal component parts and assemblies for aircraft engines.
Recent 4Q EPS of $1.96 boosted EPS for fiscal year 1997 to $2.00. These earnings
suddenly gave Kreisler a trailing PE of 4.25 before today's rise. Kreisler
now sports a trailing PE of 8.75 in an industry that routinely has trailing
multiples in the low-twenties. No published forward earnings estimates for
the company exist (its a super micro-cap with $8.5 million in market
capitalization), and annualizing 4Q numbers results in 2x earnings at today's
price. With 3Q revenues of $2.517 million yielding EPS of $0.18, and 4Q revenues
of $2.599 million yielding EPS of $1.96, it would seem that something radical
has happened to the company's cost structure. However, if the company
enagages in LIFO accounting, some lower inventory costs could have
crept into the 4Q cost of goods sold figure (making it lower than normal),
which is essentially a one-time benefit and doesn't speak to the normalized
earnings power of the company going forward.
COMPUTER PRODUCTS <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(Nasdaq: CPRD)") else Response.Write("(Nasdaq: CPRD)") end if %> and
ZYTEC CORP. <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(Nasdaq: ZTEC)") else Response.Write("(Nasdaq: ZTEC)") end if %> announced plans to join forces in a merger
valued at more than $1 billion. The merger will create one of the world's
leading providers of power supplies and power systems for the communications
market.
Zytec
shares surged $7 7/16 to $36 7/16 on 16 times normal volume. The stock
swap awards Zytec shareholders 1.33 shares of Computer Products for each
share of Zytec, which makes for a take-out price at today's close of $451.81
million. The deal is intended to be a tax-free exchange accounted for as
a pooling of interests. Computer Products will take a one-time charge related
to the merger costs in the fiscal fourth quarter ending January 2, 1998 (when
the deal is expected to close). With combined revenues of $530 million expected
for 1997, the deal may be partially accretive to earnings for the year.
QUICK TAKES: Late yesterday Moody's Investors Service upgraded the rating of PIER 1 IMPORTS <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: PIR)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: PIR)") end if %> subordinated debt due 2003 to Ba3 from B1 and its unsecured bank debt to Ba1 from Ba2, which upgraded the stock price $1 1/2 to $22 1/2 today... After being added to Morgan Keegan's focus list with an "aggressive buy" rating, DOMAIN ENERGY CORP. <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: DXD)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: DXD)") end if %> moved up $1 3/8 to $16 15/16... Demand for the company's expanded Zip drive product line boosted shares of IOMEGA CORP. <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: IOM)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: IOM)") end if %> $2 1/8 to $27 3/4 today on heavy volume... With retailers expected to post a 3% to 5% gain in same-store sales for August, some of the back-to-school beneficiaries today were GAP INC. <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: GPS)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: GPS)") end if %>, up $3 1/2 to $50, and TIMBERLAND CO. <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: TBL)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: TBL)") end if %>, up $3 11/16 to $70 3/4... CS First Boston upgraded shares of PROMUS HOTEL CORP. <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: PRH)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: PRH)") end if %> rose $2 7/16 to $43 3/16 after CS First Boston raised its rating on the company to "strong buy" from "hold" in light of its recently announced merger.
INFERENCE CORP. <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NASDAQ: INFR)") else Response.Write("(NASDAQ: INFR)") end if %> added $1 1/2 to $6 1/8 after GTE Communications chose the company's Case-Based Reasoning (CBR) software and services to enhance customer service for GTE's offerings like wireless, Internet service, ISDN, and Centrex... Computer security company CYLINK CORP. <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(Nasdaq: CYLK)") else Response.Write("(Nasdaq: CYLK)") end if %> said today that it has licensed some of its technology to MICROSOFT CORP. <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(Nasdaq: MSFT)") else Response.Write("(Nasdaq: MSFT)") end if %>f or use in forthcoming versions of its Internet Explorer and Windows NT software programs. The news boosted Cylink $2 9/16 to $13 13/16... COMMERICAL FEDERAL CORP. <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: CFB)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: CFB)") end if %> signed a definitive agreement to acquire savings and loan holding company MID CONTINENT BANCSHARES <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(Nasdaq: MCBS)") else Response.Write("(Nasdaq: MCBS)") end if %> through a stock swap valued at about $74.9 million. Mid Continent rose $6 1/8 to $36 1/8... Scott Baily at BlueStone Capital reiterated his "strong buy" rating on PREMIER LASER SYSTEMS <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(Nasdaq: PLSIA)") else Response.Write("(Nasdaq: PLSIA)") end if %>, helping move the shares up $1 11/16 to $10 7/16.
LABOR READY <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(Nasdaq: LBOR)") else Response.Write("(Nasdaq: LBOR)") end if %> rocketed $2 1/2 to $18 after reporting sales of $32.3 million for the four weeks ended Aug. 22, 1997, a same-store increase of 118%... LASERSCOPE <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NASDAQ: LSCP)") else Response.Write("(NASDAQ: LSCP)") end if %> rose $7/8 to $6 7/8 after announcing that it has received clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to market its Erbium:YAG Laser System for laser skin resurfacing... Shares of SECURE COMPUTING CORP. <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(Nasdaq: SCUR)") else Response.Write("(Nasdaq: SCUR)") end if %> launched $3/4 to $6 5/16 as the provider of network security solutions announced that it has been awarded a $4.46 million contract from the U.S. Air Force's Rome Laboratory... Investors went nuts for nut and snack maker JOHN B. SANFILIPPO & SON's <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(Nasdaq: JBSS)") else Response.Write("(Nasdaq: JBSS)") end if %> 2Q EPS of $0.07, moving the shares $1 to $8 1/2... EPITOPE INC. <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: EPTO)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: EPTO)") end if %> climbed $1 5/32 to $8 5/32 after it filed a registration statement with the SEC with respect to the planned spin off of its Agritope agricultural biotechnology subsidiary.
In another "high-powered" merger, APPLIED POWER <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: APW)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: APW)") end if %> announced a definitive agreement to purchase all the outstanding stock of VERSA TECHNOLOGIES <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NASDAQ: VRSA)") else Response.Write("(NASDAQ: VRSA)") end if %> for $24.625 per share in cash, which boosted Versa shares $2 1/4 to $24 3/8... Raymond James initiated coverage of META GROUP (METG) with a "buy" rating, which helped shares of the market research firm move up $1 3/4 to $23.
GOATS
Personal computer maker GATEWAY 2000 <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: GTW)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: GTW)") end if %> was cut down for
a $3 13/16 loss to $32 3/4 after issuing "cautionary comments" regarding
third quarter results. Gateway blamed the shortfall on the UPS strike, setting
up reserves for obsolescent inventory, and lower selling prices. The First
Call consensus EPS estimate for the quarter was $0.47, which would have resulted
in year-over-year EPS growth of 20%. Falling behind that growth rate either
means Gateway is losing market share in the increasingly commoditized,
price-sensitive, consumer low-end, or recent marketing pushes are not paying
off. Indeed, gross margin has remained steady over a number of reporting
periods, but operating expenses have grown by about one percentage point
of sales over the last year. While the UPS strike will muck up the assessment
of the quarter, a margin contraction was already in place coming into the
quarter.
Disk drive head suspension assembly maker HUTCHINSON TECHNOLOGY <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(Nasdaq: HTCH)") else Response.Write("(Nasdaq: HTCH)") end if %> lost $3 5/8 to $30 as its Q4 earnings pre-announcement for break-even
results lead to a modest amount of hand wringing over disk drive demand.
Since Hutch owns 70% of the market for suspension assemblies, it's treated
as a bellwether for the drive industry, but some investors miss the point
that disk drive demand is measured at the end of final consumption -- with
the corporations and people that buy the drives. Occasionally, the inventory
channel at the manufacturing level or at the wholesaler and retailer levels
can get a little full, and thus production growth can slow. Many PC industry
watchers view this announcement from Hutchinson today as a periodic inventory
cleansing, explaining why the group responded fairly well to the news.
Computer and networking cable hardware manufacturer JPM CO. <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(Nasdaq: JPMX)") else Response.Write("(Nasdaq: JPMX)") end if %> was stripped $6 to $27 after announcing that it will miss quarterly
EPS estimates of $0.30 because of a "continuation of seasonal slowness in
July and early August." The company is basically a contract manufacturer
of cable assemblies that connect to routers and fault-tolerant servers as
well as flexible wire assemblies found inside such equipment. JPM may have
hit a brief rough spot with its acquisition of Dendrite, a similar manufacturer
of wire assemblies. Assuming that this doesn't affect 1998 EPS estimates,
the stock has fallen into the sub-20 times forward estimate range today --
not extraordinarily cheap for a contract manufacturer, but below the average
forward multiple in the group. However, the company has its work cut out
for it in getting Dendrite's margins into shape and meeting a higher EPS
goal with a secondary stock offering still in the works.
Nursing, respiratory, and infusion therapy healthcare provider HOME HEALTH CORP. OF AMERICA <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(Nasdaq: HHCA)") else Response.Write("(Nasdaq: HHCA)") end if %> fell $1 5/16 to $11 on announcing Q1 operating EPS of $0.22, meeting estimates. Investors were unnerved by a large increase in reserves for doubtful accounts receivable and management comments about managed care payment practices.
QUICK CUTS: CARMIKE CINEMAS <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: CKE)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: CKE)") end if %> dropped $3 1/2 to $27 3/4 after saying that it expects results for the
third quarter to fall short of analysts' estimates due to "weakness" in new
films... Financial software company SS&C TECHNOLOGIES <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(Nasdaq: SSNC)") else Response.Write("(Nasdaq: SSNC)") end if %> lost $7/8 to $10 1/8 on announcing an agreement to acquire Mabel Systems
B.V., a Netherlands-based supplier of investment portfolio management software...
Construction products company AMERICAN BUILDINGS <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(Nasdaq: ABCO)") else Response.Write("(Nasdaq: ABCO)") end if %> lost
$2 3/4 to $27 1/8 after pre-announcing Q3 EPS of $0.82 to $0.85, up 34% to
39% over last year but below estimates of $1.08... COMPUTER PRODUCTS
<% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(Nasdaq: CPRD)") else Response.Write("(Nasdaq: CPRD)") end if %> lost $3 5/16 to $28 3/8 on announcing its planned merger
with networking products power supply manufacturer ZYTEC <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(Nasdaq: ZYTC)") else Response.Write("(Nasdaq: ZYTC)") end if %>.
SEAGATE TECHNOLOGY <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: SEG)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: SEG)") end if %> dropped $2 1/2 to $36 3/8 on
HUTCHINSON TECHNOLOGY's <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(Nasdaq: HTCH)") else Response.Write("(Nasdaq: HTCH)") end if %> earnings pre-announcement.
Hutchinson is a supplier to Seagate... Candles and potpourri maker BLYTH
INDUSTRIES <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: BTH)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: BTH)") end if %> dwindled $5 9/16 to $30 15/16 after reporting
Q2 EPS of $0.20, up 43% over last year and slightly above estimates of $0.19...
BECKMAN INSTRUMENTS <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: BEC)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: BEC)") end if %>, no, not the Grammy winner Beck, but
the manufacturer of laboratory equipment, fell $2 15/16 to $43 11/16 after
Standard & Poor's placed the debt of the company on "CreditWatch, negative"
after yesterday's announcement that it will acquire privately held Coulter
Corp.... Filter and "fluid clarification" equipment maker PALL CORP.
<% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: PLL)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: PLL)") end if %> slipped $1 1/2 to $22 1/2 after reporting 4Q EPS of $0.34, a
full $0.06 below estimates.
FOOL ON THE
HILL
An Investment Opinion by Louis
Corrigan
The Non-Disclosure Disclosure
Two weeks ago, Warren Buffett threw the market a curveball that had traders
bailing out of WELLS FARGO <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: WFC)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: WFC)") end if %>, GENERAL DYNAMICS <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: GD)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: GD)") end if %>, and TORCHMARK <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: TMK)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: TMK)") end if %>. The episode cast a spotlight on the
peculiarity of 13-F filings and the special treatment Buffett appears to
have received from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). What's clear
from these confusing events is that 13F disclosures are, in general, less
useful than they appear and that Buffett's are particularly ambiguous. What's
also clear is that speculators who took their cues from the initial news
reports, and either dumped or shorted the above companies or bought put options
on hopes of a deep decline, are now underwater -- all three stocks have recovered
and now trade at or above their pre-Buffetted prices.
The news hit the wires about 1:30 p.m. on August 21: the 13F filings of Buffett's
BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: BRK.A and BRK. B)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: BRK.A and BRK. B)") end if %> no longer listed the firm's
holdings in the three companies. This seemed significant because in the first
quarter filing, Buffett reported that Berkshire had sold off just 300,000
shares of Wells Fargo and still held 6.99 million shares, or 7.8% of the
shares outstanding. The same disclosure indicated that Berkshire owned 4.3
million shares of General Dynamics and 662,000 shares of Torchmark. Had Buffett
now completely cashed out Berkshire's stake in these companies? Traders assumed
the answer was yes. Within an hour, Wells Fargo shares dropped from $266
3/8 to a low of $251, down 5.8% for the day. At their lows, General Dynamics
was off nearly $2 1/4 to around $81 a share and Torchmark was down $2 to
around $35 1/2.
The market, though, was wrong. The recovery began at 2:30 p.m. when Wells
Fargo announced that Buffett was still a major shareholder. This fact could
have been gleaned from Berkshire's second quarter 10-Q. Buffett's profits
in Wells Fargo alone total some $1.4 billion. Yet the 10-Q reported just
$35.5 million in net profits from the sale of securities. And Berkshire simply
didn't have the equity losses necessary to offset such capital gains: at
the end of 1996, unrealized investment losses amounted to just $22.4 million.
By market close, Wells Fargo shares had recovered to $260, down $7 on the
day, while the others ended down about $1 a share. Two weeks later, Wells
has nearly fully recovered while General Dynamics and Torchmark have risen
above their August 21 highs.
The confusion sparked by Berkshire's 13F filing owes something to the nature
of these filings, mandated by a late 1970s revision to the Securities Exchange
Act of 1934, and to what some critics charge are the special privileges afforded
Buffett in making them. The SEC requires "institutional investment managers"
exercising investment discretion over accounts holding equity securities
with a fair market value of at least $100 million to file quarterly reports
listing their holdings. These 13F disclosures are made by some 1800 parties,
including most large banks, insurance companies, investment advisers, investment
companies, pension funds, and foundations.
According to Cary Krosinsky of Technimetrics, a firm that tracks these filings,
the 13F disclosure was designed to allow investors to monitor money managers
to make sure they're investing as advertised. This purpose is largely
theoretical, however, since only about 20 institutions voluntarily file these
forms electronically through the SEC's easy access
EDGAR database. Firms like Technimetrics
literally must go to the depository library in Washington, D.C. and fish
out the data. They then market the information to parties interested in tracking
institutional ownership, such as investor relations departments or syndication
departments looking for prospective buyers of a new issue.
The SEC recently proposed mandating electronic filing of 13-F forms, a reasonable
step if one assumes that a public disclosure is hardly public if investors
can't easily get at it. On the other hand, it's doubtful that these forms
are of much use to average investors. For starters, the information they
disclose may no longer be accurate given that money managers have up to 45
days after the end of a quarter to file them, and some trickle in a bit later
with no notable penalties. This means that the holdings as of June 30 reported
on August 15 by, say, Fidelity Magellan, may bear little resemblance to that
mutual fund's actual holdings on August 15 or, for that matter, its holdings
on June 20. The institutional art of window dressing, after all, involves
dumping investments that have turned sour before they actually stink up the
place, or at least before investors have a chance to spot them.
More curiously, the SEC's Division of Investment Management reviews approximately
50 requests each quarter from money managers anxious to keep some or all
of their holdings from being publicly disclosed. Confidential treatment can
be granted on either a partial or complete basis. The SEC then sits on that
quarter's confidential information for one year before it's made public.
Krosinsky said the SEC grants confidentiality for one of two reasons. "One
is that you're using some type of proprietary investment methodology that
would be in jeopardy if your holdings were disclosed on a regular basis.
The other possibility is that you have some form of arbitrage account that
could be put at risk. Typically the partial scenario is when you see the
arbitrage side come into play. The majority of confidential treatments are
granted for arbitrage purposes." He says Goldman Sachs was one of the few
firms that, until recently, was allowed full confidential treatment because
it successfully argued that other traders could back out its proprietary
trading models if they had access to a list of the firm's holdings.
Money managers must re-apply quarterly for confidential treatment, and relatively
few overall are granted it. Still, Buffett appears to receive special treatment.
"Warren Buffett is the only one, at least to my knowledge, who has this ability
to, in theory, selectively disclose only the stock he chooses to," Krosinsky
says. For example, Berkshire's 13F filings list Buffett's holdings in Coca-Cola,
Salomon, the Washington Post, Wesco Financial, and PS Group but fail to include
other core holdings such as Walt Disney, Freddie Mac, American Express, and
McDonald's. As Krosinky says, "They've given Buffett this ability to disclose
only part of what he has whereas others such as Soros, Fidelity, Jeff Vinik,
and the others who are watched closely don't have this privilege.... I don't
feel like Buffett should get this privilege if others don't. I don't see
why anyone gets this privilege, the way the rule was set up."
In the mid-1970s, Buffett and his partner Charlie Munger drew the heat of
SEC officials when they managed to thwart a low-ball takeover bid for Wesco
by using their control of three different public companies to buy up shares
of the California savings and loan. The maneuver led skeptical SEC officials
to conduct a two-year investigation. It ended, properly, in one of those
settlements designed to allow both parties to save face. In the process,
investigators for the Commission were considerably impressed by Buffett's
integrity and frankness. Since then, Buffett has led a special SEC panel
aimed at improving corporate disclosure. And partially due to the respect
he commands, he managed to save Salomon Brothers from the regulators' ire
after the firm's bond traders played liars' poker with the U.S. Treasury.
This history may have influenced what the SEC has allowed Buffett to do.
Still, it's not really clear what that is. Neither Berkshire nor the Commission
has been very forthcoming in explaining what kind of confidentiality Buffett
has been given, for what reasons, or for what duration. Heidi Stam, assistant
director of the SEC's Division of Investor Management, will only say that
cases are reviewed on their merits each quarter and that exemptions are given
for managers who meet the qualifications outlined in the statute. Asked if
Buffett is being treated differently from other money managers, Stam said,
"Absolutely not."
Still, as Krosinsky explains, "The assumption is that he's been allowed to
put stocks that he's considering buying or selling into his confidential
treatment filings. That's why there was speculation that Wells Fargo, although
not sold, may be sold in the future."
The rationale often heard is that word of Buffett's investing could alter
the price of the shares he's trading. News of Buffett's first quarter sales
of Wells did drop the stock $7 5/8 to $258 at the time. Yet Krosinsky points
out that Fidelity can liquidate its entire holdings in a stock, even up to
10% of the shares outstanding, in a matter of days. Managers who own at least
5% of a public company have just 15 days to disclose any drop below that
level, putting more immediate disclosure pressure on Buffett were he to reduce
his Wells Fargo holdings significantly. Still, for holdings below that level,
the 45-day delay allowed with 13F filings gives managers up to 5 1/2 months
to trade a security without making their trades public knowledge. It's hard
to fathom, then, what use the 13F filings actually are to investors or why
any money manager should be allowed confidential treatment.
What lessons can we learn from these events? For starters, the academics
and scribes who believe in the efficient market theory, which holds that
stock prices swiftly reflect all materially important news about a company,
are wrong. News affects prices, but there may be nothing efficient in that
process if the news is bogus or misinterpreted or if the short-term trading
in an issue is dominated by panicky institutional money or hair-trigger
speculators who shoot first and cogitate later. Second, the information
revolution, like the one-world economy it has fostered, has introduced new
forms of market inefficiency that are no less troubling than the old kind.
The only thing worse than having no information is having too much information
and not enough insight. The result is that market players fall back on
first-level impulses or ideological cliches so they never actually see the
issues whole but simply go with the flow, in classic herd fashion.
As Foolish readers should recognize, the Fool draws inspiration from Warren
Buffett's spectacularly successful career. It's not just because he's loaded.
Speculator George Soros has compiled an equally impressive annual return
over the last three decades, but his accomplishments are rarely mentioned
in Fooldom. The reason is fairly simple. Buffett's example is one that individual
investors have a fair chance of turning to good use -- investing in businesses
not ticker symbols; learning those businesses from the balance sheet up and
sticking around for the long haul; ignoring the day traders and the market's
short-term gyrations. It's not that Soros is any less brilliant than Buffett
(at least in this Fool's opinion), but his forte, currency trading, involves
special talents and a daily commitment that are not readily duplicated by
most people who have better things to do with their time than manage their
money. And whatever else can be said for it, it's not investing.
Investors, though, should not simply follow Buffett's lead, doing literally
what he does (or what they think he's doing). Buffett's example suggests
two distinct lessons. First, successful investing involves finding a method
that suits your individual temperament and sticking to it. Second, one of
the most successful methods (if not the most successful) is the one
most readily practiced by individuals and most vociferously discouraged by
a brokerage industry compelled to generate fees and a financial media preoccupied
by the short-term market moves that draw viewers and sell papers. If you
know the companies you invest in as well as you should, it shouldn't matter
a great deal whether Buffett is trimming his stake or not. On the other hand,
if you prefer to leave your decisions to the Oracle of Omaha, you can always
just buy a chunk of Berkshire Hathaway. In any case, leaving the day trading
to the other guys makes a lot of sense.
CONFERENCE CALLS
GLOBAL MOTORSPORT GROUP <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(Nasdaq: CSTM)") else Response.Write("(Nasdaq: CSTM)") end if %>
(800) 633-8284 (reservation #3111602) -- replay through 9/4 @ 5:30 pm EDT
ETEC SYSTEMS <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(Nasdaq: ETEC)") else Response.Write("(Nasdaq: ETEC)") end if %>
(800) 633-8284 (code: 3030112) -- replay from 7:00 pm EDT through 9/4 @ 7:00
pm EDT
BECKMAN INSTRUMENTS, INC. <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE:BEC)") else Response.Write("(NYSE:BEC)") end if %>
Re: acquisition of Coulter Corporation
(800) 633-8284 (password 3104980) -- replay through 9/4 @ 8:00 pm EDT
THIS WEEK'S CONFERENCE CALL SYNOPSES
APPLE/POWERCOMPUTING Call
WE
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SO YOU'VE READ THE
EVENING NEWS
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Every day, News writers Dale Wettlaufer and Randy Befumo engage in an impromptu discussion about the stories they find most compelling from the day's news, adding color, fresh commentary and the occasional wisecrack for your listening enjoyment. Check it all out in the Motley Fool's Evening Report on RealAudio, produced by partner Westwind Studios and sponsored by Mapquest.
Louis Corrigan (RgeSeymour), a
Fool
Fool On The Hill
Dale Wettlaufer (TMF Ralegh), another
Fool
Heros & Goats
Brian Bauer (TMF Hoops), and yet
another Fool
Editing