Market Watch | Transworld Business
About
When my name first appeared on a Market Watch column around 1995, it never occurred to me that someday there would be north of twenty publicly traded companies in the U.S. that were involved in what was our little niche in action sports. Instead of around the 300 snowboard hard goods companies there were then, there are maybe 30 now but the reach and influence of the surf/skate/snow market has grown dramatically in both breadth and complexity. We’re in the fashion business whether we wanted to be or not and you don’t have to spend much time looking through an industry magazine to figure out that a lot of large companies want a piece of this space and the customers it represents. Most of the people who buy industry product are not participants. You can use the word “billion” when talking about the market and a number of the companies and not be kidding.
What I have always tried to do is make complex issues easier to understand, and have some fun doing it. I’ll focus here on the filings of public companies, but won’t limit myself to them. In the process, I hope to make you efficient in staying up to date and focus your thinking on issues that impact your business- even when they aren’t pleasant. It is perhaps a shortcoming of mine that I’m not always cautious about saying what I think. On the other hand, it sure generates some interesting discussions, and I learn the most when people strongly disagree with me. I don’t claim to be right all the time. I just claim that the issues I raise are worth thinking about.
Jeff Harbaugh has over 25 years experience working as a manager and consultant with companies to help them identify and manage the few critical issues that really impact performance. He’s been in the action sports industry since 1991. Find out more at www.jeffharbaugh.com.
My Posts
Under the tyranny of the internet, realizing this can be published 30 seconds after I email it in, I’m turning this out Friday morning before I’ve finished my coffee. Please recognize that I’m doing this based on their press release rather than the more detailed SEC filing which will come later.
I’ve got a question for [...]
Billabong released its annual financial report for the year ended June 30, 2008 in late September. As it’s 116 pages long, you’ll just have to forgive me for not having it read and written about the next day. If you want to read all 116 pages yourself, feel free to do so. Have a wonderful time.
Back on September 23, I posted an article that highlighted, among other things, Zumiez’s valuation and management of its issue with auction rate securities. I said that I thought other companies would be having similar issues if they weren’t already. Guess what? They are, and I didn’t want to leave Zumiez hanging out there like they were the only one. Read more here.
As I walked around ASR, I came to the unhappy conclusion that of all the people at the show- retailers and exhibitors- very few of them were old enough to have actually been through a real, honest to god, actual recession as business people. I came to the even unhappier conclusion that I was one who was old enough and, indeed, had. Read more here.
I wrote this and posted it on my blog back in August or early September. I just read it again and decided I still liked it. Since Transworld Business has graciously given me space to write pretty much anything I want (so far) I thought I’d throw it out there and see what the response was. Continue reading here.
A couple of days go, Nike put out a press release for their first quarter ended August 31. It’s not the whole quarterly report, so I can’t delve into any footnotes. They sold, uh, a whole bunch of stuff and made a lot of money. I’ll deal with the details when the 10Q is filed. Here’s the link to the press release if you want to review the summary financial statements. You don’t need me to spew the numbers back at you. Read more here.
Once upon a time, way back in 2003, an investment bank could only have leverage of up to twelve to one. In 2004, the Security and Exchange Commission gave five investment banks, and only five, the ability to leverage up to 30 or 40 times or so. Guess which five they were? I almost don’t want to bother listing them, because the list is so obvious. But for the benefit of all the readers who have just awakened from a coma they’ve been in for most of the year, they are Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs. Continue reading here.
Zumiez recently released its 10Q for the quarter ending August 28th. (To see the full report, click HERE.)Their balance sheet is strong. They made money, and their sales grew a bit, but earnings per share fell compared to the prior periods last year. For the six months ended August 2nd, the decline was from $0.16 to $0.14 cents per share. For the quarter, it fell from $0.11 to $0.09. Read more here.