June 6, 2003 Cardinal Health (CAH)
I kinda figured a day wouldn't go by when I couldn't find an appropriate candidate to discuss. Looking through the NYSE greatest risers...we find a lot of preferred and foreign issues. Almost wrote up MCD but their growth is rather anemic.

I like Cardinal Health and its record though. CAH is having a great day in an overall disappointing trading session. Currently, trading at $64.17 up $4.12 on the day or 6.86%.

According to CNN.Money, CAH "is a holding company that provides products and services to healthcare providers and manufacturers to help them improve the efficiency and quality of healthcare." Hmmm...now what exactly do they do?

Anyhow, they do one thing...make a lot of money! On April 23rd, 2003, Cardinal reported results for the third quarter ending March 31, 2003. Earnings per diluted share grew 29% to $.85, and operating revenues increased to $12.8 billion up 11%.

Looking at the 5 year report on Morningstar we see a very pretty series of bar graphs showing a 1998 revenue of $28.4 billion, 1999 at $32.7 billion, 2000 at $38.3 billion, 2001 at $47.9 billion, 2002 at $51.1 billion with $53.4 billion reported in the trailing twelve months.

Cardinal also generates a tremendous amount of free cash flow. In 2000 they generated $173 million, 2001 it was $531 million, 2002 up to $699 million, and $1.9 billion in the trailing twelve months.

Assets and liabilities are fairly well balanced....overall this is a very pretty company to consider an investment. The stock trades at a p/e of 23.13 and does pay a small dividend yielding 0.17%

I do not now own any shares of this stock nor am planning to buy any. This would be one I would love to add to my portfolio though!

Have a great weekend everyone. I have high school graduation to look forward to in my family! Bob

June 6, 2003 Mothers Work (MWRK)
Decided to pick up a little MWRK for myself. I sold 50 of Dell, and 50 of SYNO in my trading account for about a 30% gain and bot 250 of MWRK on margin.

The market itself is getting a little tired. Would have rather it corrected a day or two ago....looks like may end down before the close...just 15 minutes left. Hope everyone has a great weekend.

I will revisit the lists and see if any candidates show up! Bob

June 5, 2003 Christopher & Banks Corp. (CBK NYSE)
What a market! Could just about FEEL that buying pressure keeping the market from taking a well-deserved break. The market is closed and there is time to squeak in one more stock: Christopher & Banks (CBK).

CBK, according to CNN.Money "is a Minneapolis-based regional retailer of women's specialty apparel. As of 5/9/03, the Company operated a chain of 466 stores in 41 states."

Christopher & Banks had a GREAT day today closing at $33.45 up $4.10 or 13.97%. The stock has a fairly 'reasonable' p/e of 22.30 with a market cap of $829.7 Million and 24.805 Million shares outstanding. What drove the stock up today was a general move in retailing issues....they did report that sales for May were up 20% to $29.8 million, while same store sales increased 1%. (nothing to write home about I guess but must have EXCEEDED expectations.)

Looking at the most recent quarter, CBK reported results on 4/9/03 for the fourth quarter ending March 1, 2003. According to the NYTimes on the Web,
"net sales increased 15% to $95.4 million compared to $82.8 million" last year, while same-store sales DECREASED 6%. (I guess the 1% INCREASE is a TURN-AROUND story like The Gap.) Net income rose to $10.5 million, $.40/share, from $10.3 million or $.39/share last year.

The 5 year financials on Morningstar look a little more exciting with revenue growth from $99.5 million in 1998 to $110.1 million in 1999, $143.4 million in 2000, $209.2 million in 2001, $275.9 million in 2002, and $326.1 million in the trailing twelve months.

Free cash flow has increased in the trailing twelve months from $10 million in 2001, dipping to $5 million in 2002, and $20 million in the trailing twelve months per Morningstar.com.

The company is essentially DEBT-FREE per Morningstar with cash of $46.9 million enough to cover both current liabilities of $15.0 million and long-term liabilities of $2.7 million.

This is a nice stock that provides steady growth and earnings performance. We have had some other sexier issues, but this might just hit the spot for your portfolio. I do not at this time own any shares nor am I planning on any purchases...simply put, I am up to my ears in margin!

Have a great evening everyone! Bob

June 5, 2003 American Pharmaceutical Ptnrs (APPX)
Here is one that I HAVE owned in the past but unfortunately no longer own. APPX today is up strongly at $37.39, a $4.13 gain or 12.42%.

According to CNN.money, American Pharmaceutical partners, Inc., "is a specialty pharmaceutical company that develops, manufactures & markets injectable pharmaceutical products, with a primary focus in the areas of oncology, infectious disease and critical care."

This stock literally exploded on the upside today due to a news report on a "76% response rate in head and neck cancer, 49% response rate in patients with squamous cell anal cancer, and an 80% response rate in patients with uterine carcinoma" with "high dose ABI-007" (no relation to the spy), "a novel cremophor-free protein engineered nanoparticle paclitaxel". Now that you understand THAT....

Their last quarter was reported on April 24, 2003, about 6 weeks ago, and was great! Revenues, according to NYTimes on the web, increased 51% to $81.3 million with a gross margin of 57% of sales. Operating profit margin grew to 35% of sales, and net income was up 234% (!) to $17.1 million or $.35/share compared to $5.1 million or $.10/share in 2002. These are GREAT numbers.

Checking Morningstar.com, we find revenue at $0.3 million in 1996, up to $7.6 million in 1997, $65.9 million in 1998, $136.5 million in 1999, $165 million in 2000, $192 million in 2001, and $277 million in 2002. Isn't that a NICE progression?

Free cash flow has gradually increased from $7 milion in 2000 to $3 million in 2001 and now $20 million in 2002.

Assets/liabilities is nice as presented in Morningstar with $39.8 million in CASH, enough to pay off current liabilities of $40.3 million. In addition there is $108.3 million in additional current assets and NO long-term debt.

Valuation-wise, not really cheap with a p/e of 31.09. There are 46.09 million shares outstanding.

This stock looks very nice and has done very well..but not dirt-cheap. Bob

June 5, 2003 Update on UFM
Stock dropped today, hit 14% loss and sold my 300....easy come easy go. That is the problem with small cap issues of low price/float....very volatile!

Regards. Bob

June 5, 2003 Mothers Work (MWRK)
How is it possible to go from used cars to maternity clothes? I am not sure of the connection but they are both retail firms and the clue to their success comes in their SAME STORE SALES numbers.

Emphasis ADDED because it is one of the MOST important parts of picking a successful retail investment. I am continued to be tempted to post Aeropostale in this location, but they actually missed a year of revenue growth, I believe from 2000 to 2001...and also their SAME STORE SALES recently reported for May are negative.

Anyhow, you could deliver a baby in the time it took me to say all of that!

According to CNN.money, Mothers Work, Inc. "is a specialty retailer of maternity clothing in the United States. As of 3/03, the Company operates 949 retail store locations offering a full range of career, casual and special occasion maternity wear."

After another pregnant pause, let me continue: MWRK is having a great day..up $2.43 to $25.55 which is a 10.51% gain on the day....not exactly TWINS but pretty nice anyway. One could say that the APGAR scores on this stock are definitely tops.

What made this stock move today was the announcement......get this.....of SAME STORE SALES for May! They reported that net sales increased 13.5% to $47.0 million from $41.4 million reported in the month of May, 2002. Comparable store sales for May 2003 increased 4.7% (based on 836 locations).
This is outstanding retail numbers in a relatively anemic retail environment.

Last quarter, MWRK reported net income of $0.3 million or $.06/share compared to net income last year of $.1 million or $.02/common share (diluted).

Net sales increased 6.1% to $111.3 million during this latest quarter from $104.9 million in the same quarter the preceding year.

Looking at Morningstar, we see STEADY and CONSISTENT growth each year from $299.0 million in 1998, to $299.7 million in 1999, $366.3 million in 2000, $388.3 million in 2001, $453.2 million in 2002 and $465.1 million in the trailing twelve months.

Overall, free cash flow has improved from $5 million in 2000 to $16 million in the trailing twelve months.

Assets/Liabilities are fairly well balanced.

This stock looks nice. And an important point is that VALUATION is good. Trailing p/e is only 11.67. Stock is moving UP from a DEPRESSED level, and very small market cap of $134.3 million with only 5.257 million shares outstanding.

Bob

June 5, 2003 CarMax (KMX)
Well it is off to the races again. Market selling off this morning and the buyers won't stay home. They are working to fight back to an up day. Can you just feel it? Anyway, speaking of races, how about a car stock?

CarMax (KMX NYSE) is, according to Cnn.money "a specialty retailer of used cars and light trucks. The Company operates 41 used car superstores in 18 markets. It also operates 17 new-car franchises."

Currently, CarMax is trading at $28.65 up $3.93 or 15.90% on the day. What triggered the bounce was an announcement regarding first quarter sales and earnings that came out earlier this morning. The lesson here is about EXPECTATIONS. So many moves in the market are about 'restoring valuation'. How does that sound sports fans? That is when something comes out that is different than current expectations, a thousand 'wonks' with sliderules get out in the back room and figure out what the PROPER valuation should be and we see a BOUNCE or a DROP that stands out.

KMX reported today that sales for the first quarter ending May 31, 2003, were at record levels.

Total sales rose 17% to $1.17 billion from $1.01 billion and more importantly, as a retail venture, COMPARABLE store sales...really a SAME STORE SALES figure rose 10% compared to last years first quarter.

To top it off the RAISED first quarter net earnings EXPECTATIONS to approximately 34 cents/share.

Looking at Morningstar.com for 5 year financials we see this relatively young company having sales of $0.9 billion in 1998 going to $1.5 billion in 1999, $2.0 billion in 2000, $2.5 billion in 2001, $3.2 billion in 2002 and $3.5 billion in the trailing twelve months.

This company also generates a lot of CASH. In 2000, free cash flow was a NEGATIVE $69 million, turning positive in 2001 with $7 million, dropping to only $1 million in 2002 but back to $33 million positive in 2002. The trend here is very nice.

The company is flush with cash with $74.7 million in cash and $576.3 million in other current assets. Current liabilities is a manageable $159.6 million and Long-Term liabilities is a moderate $112.1 million.

I like this stock a lot. I hate car stocks right now in general. But with the price of a new car...and I drive a 10 year old Jeep!....many people are turning to used cars....and this company has some new car dealerships as well....I don't own any shares and would LOVE to own some but am on my margin max so I leave it to all of you sports fans to buy some of this if you like.

Have a great Thursday! Bob

June 4, 2003 EELN update
Transparency again....sold 50 of my NCEN leaving 100 (with a 78% gain) and bot 600 of EELN....numbers were just toooo nice for me to resist. Happy Wednesday! Bob

June 4, 2003 E-Loan (EELN)
Seems like we are seeing more of our kind of stocks pop up on the greatest movers list on cnn.money. It was nice to ENZ show up again....see earlier post on this stock which is now up over 5 points from our original posting.

Alas, I am going to post a DOTCOM....heaven forbid....lol. Was in Yahoo Stock Chat the other evening trying to get the word out about this website...keep those hits coming folks...when someone suggested E-Loan. I thought they were pulling my leg but I checked Morningstar and it DID fit our criteria...but hadn't made the list.

This morning, E-loan showed up on the list! Currently it is trading at $5.06 up $.37 or 7.89% on the day. According to cnn.money, "E-LOAN is a leading online provider of consumer loans, offering morgages, car loans, credit cards & small business loans."

On April 24th, EELN reported first quarter results: per the NYTimes on the web, revenues wee $36.0 million up 73% (!) from the $20.8 million reported in first quarter of 2002. Net income for 2003 was $6.3 million of $.11/share compared to $.03/share last year.

By the way I don't own any shares...but I say yet...because once again I am becoming WOWED by the results of this little company.

Five year on Morningstar.com shows steady revenue improvement from $1.0 million in 1997 to $6.8 million in 1998, $22.1 million in 1999, $35.9 million in 2000, and $68 million in 2001, with $89.7 million reported in the trailing twelve months.

The rest of the data on Morningstar is a bit spotty, but appears to be cash flow positive. This is a great growth story and deserves your attention. I am afraid I am a bit deep into margin and need to be more patient with my existing issues.

Regards again! Bob

June 4, 2003 UFM update
O.K., I slept on UFM and this morning couldn't help picking up a few shares. BOT 300 @9..so there is the transparency...want you to know what I buy and know what I recommend so you can sort it out yourself. Stock has great growth #'s, LOW p/e, low capitalization....low float. Years ago was in DTM (Dataram) on the AMEX with similar type #'s, also Ohio Arts (OAR) on the AMEX....and both exploded on the upside as investors tried to pile into a very small float. Hopefully this works too! (thus far the stock is DOWN fractionally....other risk is hitting the 8% stop quickly on a low price stock!)....happy Wednesday. Bob