Wednesday 16 February 2011

Liz Claiborne, Inc (LIZ)

Liz Claiborne is due to report results on Thursday 17th February 2010. Current valuation on $3bn of sales is some $480m. This is very cheap given their brands and potential for revenue growth.

The main issue I have is the incompetent Chief Executive Officer, William L. McComb . Since he took office he has destroyed around $3-4bn worth of value in this company, whilst also earning $10-15m in the process. During the downturn he did not pro-actively cut costs and the company continues to leak money. He is unable to manage this company because he is incompetent.

I will be watching for his departure. A more competent leader can take the helm and turn this company around.

The brands this company has are superb however the current board particularly the CEO have destroyed the value of the company.

Wednesday 2 February 2011

GMCR - Green Mountain

Stunning Sales but have they been giving the coffee away for free ? Look at all the discounts.  No wonder they made $2m on increased sales compared to last year same quarter's $10m

  • Now $2.50 off K-Cup boxes & $1 off coffee bags
  • Receive 24 K-Cups per box when you order online, more per box than buying locally
  • Choose from over 120 varieties of all your favorite brands: Green Mountain Coffee, Tully's, Newman's Own Organics and Caribou
  • FREE standard shipping when you purchase 4+ boxes of K-Cups
  • Save $3 on your K-Cup boxes when you reach Platinum Status
  • Change your order, adjust the delivery schedule, and check your current order status - all online!
  • Information on new & upcoming products
  • 10% off gift baskets, brewers and accessories
  • No fees, no cost to join, cancel anytime without penalty

Thursday 27 January 2011

Some Thoughts on the Fed From Fellow Traders

Fed, Bernanke, Obama, Geither are the worst scum bags alive, and will go down in US history 50 yrs from now when we'r 3rd world

No..They are crooks. Look at 06-07 when gas, housing everything was soaring..Fed..no inflation. Rinse and repeat.

Wednesday 26 January 2011

Recovery ? The Jobless Recovery

Yahoo -  Chief executive Carol Bartz last night said the company would let a further 1% of its 14,000 staff go, just weeks after announcing 4% of cuts.

Chief Executive Officer Ursula Burns is also reducing costs, including 5000 job cuts announced last year to save the company about $140 million.

Disney has announced more job cuts as they make their strategic move away from developing console games.


With some top state leaders warning that Texas’ dire fiscal situation will lead to the loss of several thousand state jobs, House budget writers will release their first draft budget today — and big job cuts may be just the beginning. Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst went a step further last week and put a number to the cuts, announcing that 8,000 state jobs could be eliminated.

American Express fell 2.5 percent after announcing job cuts.

Tuesday 25 January 2011

Buy the Dip ?

Very true with the current money printing machine going into overdrive.


Printing Money May Help America

The quantitative easing (printing money) has effectively been used to devalue the dollar, not quite sure if has achieved it yet, but it will given the amount of debt that the US is sitting on.  This could potentially back fire on Bernanke.

Im not entirely sure what the net value of food or fuel imports is into the US.  But although US goods will be cheaper to the rest of the world, the cost of importing food items and fuel into the States could rise significantly.


The impact of this could be a reduction in fat people across America, which will certainly help the health care costs.

The other impact could be the reduction in America's disposable household income.  This could have significant issues for the American economy in the medium term.   

About Me

I try and work a broadly market neutral strategy and based purely on fundamentals and my gut feel.