Posts for Ticker ‘WFMI’

Brand Image: Did Mackey Really Hurt Whole Foods? (WFMI)

Whole Foods ImageWhole Foods Market, Inc. (NASDAQ: WFMI) has been under fire of late from outside groups, although this time it is not over the founder’s secret web posting, not over a merger and antitrust issues, and not over high prices leading to name ‘Whole Paycheck.”  It is almost daily now that one group or another is attacking CEO and founder John Mackey over his editorial opposing President Obama’s healthcare reform.

This morning’s release came from CtW Investment Group calling for Mackey’s removal because of the risks to the brand and over Mackey’s history of personal discipline.  The CtW Investment Group works with pension funds sponsored by unions affiliated with Change to Win, a federation of unions representing nearly 6 million members, to enhance long-term shareholder returns through active ownership. The group noted that ‘these funds are substantial long term Whole Foods shareholders.’
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Posted on: August 25, 2009 – 11:24 am in Activist Investor, Food, Healthcare, Management Change, Regulation, Retail,

Top Day Trader Alerts (ACAS, GRMN, NVAX, ONT, PG, USU, WFMI)

These are this morning’s top day trader and active trader alerts.  We have links through to VSInvestor.com for more detailed price and volume analysis on each stock:

American Capital Ltd. (NASDAQ: ACAS) is down a sharp 20% on a wide loss and issue on its covenants.

Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN) is up huge in pre-market trading after earnings were less-bad.

Novavax, Inc. (Nasdaq: NVAX) is soaring as one of NASDAQ’s most active issues.  The company has manufactured a virus-like particle vaccine candidate against the H1N1 pandemic influenza virus.

On2 Technologies (NYSE AMEX: ONT) is up almost 55% at $0.59 after a Google buyout deal.

Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG) is down almost 4% on weak earnings metrics and choppy guidance.

USEC Inc. (NYSE: USU) is up over 12% after a DOE delay on the loan guarantee application.

Whole Foods Market, Inc. (NASDAQ: WFMI) is hitting 52-week highs on strong earnings and a slight return to growth.

The 24/7 Wall St. Team

Posted on: August 5, 2009 – 8:56 am in Pre-Market Activity, Trading Alert, , , , , , ,

Whole Foods Earnings Better Than Organic (WFMI)

money-stack-imageWhole Foods Market, Inc. (NASDAQ: WFMI) has reported that sales for the last quarter rose by 2% to $1.878 billion, although comparable store sales decreased 2.5% versus a 2.6% increase in the prior year. Income from operations increased 23% to $78.9 million. The Company’s effective tax rate was 41.0%, income available to common shareholders was $35.0 million, and diluted earnings per share were $0.25 after a $0.02 accounting credit (LIFO).  Thomson Reuters had estimates pegged at $0.20 EPS and $1.86 billion in revenues.
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Posted on: August 4, 2009 – 4:29 pm in Earnings, Food, Luxury, Retail,

CoTweet, Major Brand Twitter-Platform Gets VC Funding (WFMI, SBUX, MSFT, JBLU, F, PEP, S, KO)

Money Stack ImageNo one knows how to value social media’s dominant players.  The real value for Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace is elusive (and less than before).  Twitter is one of these businesses which suddenly has all the buzz, yet find someone who can tell you what the ultimate monetary value of Twitter is.  Many older internet users are hardly familiar with the term ‘blogging’… let alone microblogging.  But today a company operating as a Twitter platform operator and brand manager has received venture backing.

CoTweet is a web-based collaboration platform that helps companies reach and engage customers in real-time using Twitter for brand management. The product is already said to be used by Whole Foods Market Inc. (NASDAQ: WFMI), Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX), Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT), JetBlue Airways Corporation (NASDAQ: JBLU), Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F), PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP), Sprint (NYSE: S), and The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO)
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Posted on: July 9, 2009 – 2:44 pm in Business Services, Internet, Private Equity, , , , , , , ,

Top Analyst Upgrades (ANF, DLB, HMA, LPNT, NWS, THC, WFMI, YHOO)

These are the top earlybird analyst upgrades and positive research calls seen early this Monday morning:

Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) Raised to Outperform at FBR.
Dolby Labs (DLB) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Health Management (HMA) Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.
Lifepoint Hospitals (LPNT) Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.
News Corp (NWS) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Tenet Healthcae (THC) Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.
Whole Foods (WFMI) Raised to Outperform at RBC.
Yahoo! (YHOO) Raised to Overweight at Barclays.

JON C. OGG

Posted on: June 1, 2009 – 6:56 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , ,

The Ten Ways Twitter Will Permanently Change American Business

newspaperMicro-blogging platform Twitter has 32 million users, which is an increase from about 2 million a year ago, according to research mentioned in The Wall Street Journal. Some Internet measurement services show that figure increasing 50% to 100% month-over-month. While it is not clear that Twitter will become as large as social networks, MySpace and Facebook or video-sharing site YouTube, the company could certainly have 50 million visitors by the end of the year. Read More »

Posted on: May 26, 2009 – 8:11 pm in Banking, Business Services, Cable Companies, Consumer Electronics, Editor's Picks, Entertainment, Infrastructure, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Media Digest 5/14/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYT, FT, Bloomberg

newspaperReuters   Obama hopes to have healthcare bill by July

Reuters   Documents on Paulson’s meetings with banks forcing them to take TARP have been released

Reuters   Banks sued MBIA (MBI) over its $5 billion restructuring.

Reuters   Lehman may spin off its remaining assets.

Reuters   Ford (F) is walking a tight rope during the industry downturn.

Reuters   The SEC is proposing action against former Countrywide CEO Mozilo. Read More »

Posted on: May 14, 2009 – 2:58 am in Autos, Banking, Consumer Electronics, Earnings, Pharmaceuticals, Press Digest, Regulation, Semiconductor, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Whole Foods Unexciting, Yet Perhaps Enough (WFMI)

Whole Foods ImageWhole Foods Market, Inc. (NASDAQ: WFMI) has reported its quarterly earnings at $0.19 non-GAAP EPS and $1.86 billion in revenue.  Thomson Reuters had consensus estimates of $0.18 EPS and $1.87 billion in revenue.  Be advised that the earnings included non-cash asset impairment charges of approximately $13 million, or $0.05 per share.  The company noted that same store sales for the quarter came in at -4.1% in the quarter, yet it showed operating cash flow of $173 million and generated $98 million of free cash flow.
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Posted on: May 13, 2009 – 3:20 pm in Cult Stock, Earnings, Food, Luxury, Retail,

Analyzing Whole Foods Earnings, Post-Double (WFMI, KR, SWY, WMT)

Whole Foods ImageWhole Foods Market, Inc. (NASDAQ: WFMI) is set to report earnings after the close of trading today.  We have Thomson Reuters targets of $0.18 EPS and $1.87 billion in revenue.  We will be paying close attention to the organic growth at the high-end grocer not just because it is closely watched by traders and investors interested in organic foods.  It was just on March 11 when we predicted that this could double off of lows, and it has already done that.  This makes analyzing today’s earnings rather difficult.
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Posted on: May 13, 2009 – 1:48 pm in Consumer Goods, Earnings, Food, Retail, , , ,

Top Analyst Downgrades (BJS, BUCY, BNI, INTU, JOYG,PBR, TKC, WFMI)

These are some of the top pre-market analyst downgrades we have seen early this Monday morning from Wall Street:

BJ Services (BJS) Cut to Market Perform at Wachovia.
Bucyrus (BUCY) Cut to Neutral at Baird.
Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNI) Cut to Sell at Citigroup.
Intuit (INTU) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.
Joy Global (JOYG) Cut to Neutral at Baird.
Petroleo Brasileiro (PBR) Cut to Neutral at HSBC.
Turkcell (TKC) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
Whole Foods (WFMI) Cut to Sell at UBS.

JON C. OGG

Posted on: April 27, 2009 – 6:47 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , ,

Top Analyst Downgrades (AKAM, BMY, KMX, ESLR, GOL, HGSI, MON, SCHN, TDC, UA, DIS, WFMI)

These are the top pre-market analyst downgrades and negative research calls we have seen from Wall Street early this Friday morning:

Akamai Tech (AKAM) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY) Cut to Market Perform at Bernstein.
CarMax (KMX) Cut to Underperform at Wachovia.
Evergreen Solar (ESLR) Started as Sell at Canaccord Adams.
GOL Linhas Areas Inteligentes S.A. (GOL) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
Human Genome Sciences (HGSI) Cut to Market Perform at Bernstein.
Monsanto (MON) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Schnitzer Steel (SCHN) Cut to Sell at UBS.
Teradata (TDC) Started as Underweight at Thomas Weisel.
Under Armour (UA) Cut to “Negative” at Susquehanna.
Walt Disney (DIS) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Whole Foods (WFMI) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.

JON C. OGG

Posted on: April 3, 2009 – 7:04 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (KG, MXIM, NWL, WFMI, WY, LM, POWI, S)

These are some of the top pre-market analyst upgrades and downgrades from Wall Street this Monday morning:

  • King Pharma (KG) Raised to Overweight at Wachovia.
  • Maxim Integrated Products (MXIM) Raised to Market Perform at FBR.
  • Newell-Rubbermaid (NWL) Raised to Buy at B of A Merrill.
  • Whole Foods (WFMI) Raised to Market Perform at FBR.
  • Weyerhaueser (WY) Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.
  • Legg Mason (LM) Cut to Underperform at B of A Merrill.
  • Power Integrations (POWI) Cut to Sell at Piper Jaffray.
  • Sprint-Nextel (S) Cut to Market Weight at Wachovia.

JON C. OGG

Posted on: March 16, 2009 – 7:06 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , ,

Retail & Consumer Stocks That Should Double (ANF, M, SHLD, SONC, WFMI)

money-stack-image21This week 24/7 Wall St. is picking several stocks from major sectors that are likely to double off of their lows we have recently seen. Today, let’s discuss the retail sector.   We are also including two food companies that have suffered along with the rest of the retail sector.

Today’s review includes Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE: ANF), Macy’s, Inc. (NYSE: M), Sears Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ: SHLD), Sonic Corp. (NASDAQ: SONC), and Whole Foods Market, Inc. (NASDAQ: WFMI).
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Posted on: March 11, 2009 – 9:44 am in Consumer Goods, Food, Retail, Value Investing, , , , , , , , , , ,

After FTC Settlement What of Wild Oats & Whole Foods Is Left? (WFMI)

whole-foods-imageWhole Foods Market, Inc. (NASDAQ: WFMI) has reached a settlement agreement with the Federal Trade Commission’s about its acquisition of Wild Oats.   Under the terms of the settlement, Whole Foods will divest the Wild Oats intellectual property and name.  Whole Foods will also sell 32 former Wild Oats stores.

This resolves the matter and now the company can go on.  But investors are left wondering about what Wild Oats really received in acquiring Wild Oats.
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Posted on: March 6, 2009 – 9:56 am in Food, Mergers and Buy Outs, Retail,

Pali Research Upgrades Whole Foods Market (WFMI) to Buy, Managing Well Through Tough Environment

Pali Research upgrades Whole Foods Market (Nasdaq: WFMI) from Sell to Buy and raised its price target increased to $15, saying the company is managing well.

Pali analyst says, “In summary this quarter we saw: much better than expected cost containment, leveraging of labor costs, further capex cuts, plans to rationalize the store base and positive free cash flow.

Read more….

Posted on: February 19, 2009 – 9:50 am in Uncategorized,

Top Pre-Market Analyst Upgrades (CHK, CMCSA, HPQ, SNY, SSS, RIG, WFMI)

money-stack-pic4These are some of the top early bird analyst upgrades seen from Wall Street analysts this Thursday morning:

  • Chesapeake (CHK) Raised to Outperform at Bernstein.
  • Comcast (CMCSA) Raised to Buy at Collins Stewart.
  • H-P (HPQ) Raised to Overweight at Thomas Weisel.
  • Sanofi-Aventis (SNY) Raised to Neutral at JPMorgan.
  • Sovran Self Storage (SSS) Raised to Perform at Oppenheimer.
  • Transocean (RIG) Raised to Outperform at Bernstein.
  • Whole Foods (WFMI) Raised to Buy at Jefferies.

Jon C. Ogg
February 19, 2009

Posted on: February 19, 2009 – 7:39 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , ,

Media Digest 2/19/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

newspaper9According to Reuters, the biggest problem GM (GM) may face is a mountain of debt.

Reuters reports that investors in Stanford funds are pushing hard to get their money out.

Reuters reports that Obama announced his plan to rescue mortgages. Read More »

Posted on: February 19, 2009 – 3:53 am in Press Digest, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Whole Foods, Good Enough Considering (WFMI)

whole-foods-imageWhole Foods Market, Inc. (NASDAQ: WFMI) reported earnings of  $0.20 EPS and $2.47 billion in revenue.  Thomson Reuters (First Call) estimates were $0.15 EPS and $2.49 billion in revenue.  These numbers might not be 100% comparable, and there are some guidance notes ahead.
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Posted on: February 18, 2009 – 4:16 pm in Earnings, Food, Retail,

Activist Burkle Going After Whole Foods (WFMI)

Whole_foods_logoWhole Foods Markets Inc. (NASDAQ: WFMI) has a new activist in its ranks.  An SEC filing showed that Ron Burkle’s Yucaipa Cos. investment vehicle is now holding a 7% stake in the organic and high-end grocery store operator.  The filing shows a 9.81 million share stake was taken.  This will also make it one of the top 4 shareholders if the most recent data is accurate. 

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Posted on: January 8, 2009 – 6:53 am in Activist Investor, Food, Insider Activity, Retail,

Top Pre-Market Analyst Downgrades (ADTN, AZ, CY, F, GPS, GM, IFX, LEN, ERIC, MXIM, PGR, WFMI)

Burning_money_picThese are some of the key analyst downgrades and negative calls we have seen this Tuesday morning:

  • ADTRAN (ADTN) Cut to Neutral at Baird.
  • Allianz (AZ) Started as Underperform at Jefferies.
  • Cypress Semi (CY) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
  • Ford (F) Started as Sell at Societe Generale.
  • Gap Inc. (GPS) Cut to Market Perform at FBR.
  • General Motors (GM) Started as Sell at Societe Generale.
  • Infineon (IFX) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
  • Lennar (LEN) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
  • LM Ericsson (ERIC) Cut to Sell at Deutsche Bank.
  • Maxim Integrated (MXIM) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
  • Progressive (PGR) Cut to Sell at Citigroup.
  • Whole Foods (WFMI) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.

Jon C. Ogg
December 16, 2008

Posted on: December 16, 2008 – 7:46 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , , , , , ,