DARK HORSE HEDGE – One More Cup of Coffee Before You Go, GMCR
by ilene - October 20th, 2010 10:06 pm
DARK HORSE HEDGE – One More Cup of Coffee Before You Go, GMCR
By Scott Brown at Sabrient, and Ilene at Phil’s Stock World
Your sister sees the future
Like your momma and yourself
You’ve never learned to read or write
There’s no books upon your shelfAnd your pleasure knows no limits
Your voice is like a meadowlark
But your heart is like an ocean
Mysterious and darkOne more cup of coffee for the road
One more cup of coffee ‘fore I go
To the valley below – Bob Dylan
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR) doesn’t at first glance seem like the type of company that would need to be “mysterious and dark” but when “pleasure knows no limits” it can down into a metaphorical valley. How does GMCR, engaged in the specialty coffee and coffee maker businesses, churning out quarterly profits that meet analyst expectations while growing at 61% per year over the past five years, and expected to grow another 35% over the next five years, end up at #18 on the Sabrient VCU short ranking?
The fact that Michelle Stacy, President of Keurig (patented single cup brewing technology for GMCR), exercised 30,000 options at $6.20 on August 13, 2010 and simultaneously sold the shares on the open market at $30.95 for gross proceeds of $928,500, again exercised 5,000 options at $6.20 on September 13, 2010 and simultaneously sold the shares on the open market at $35.40 for gross proceeds of $177,000 and a week later exercised another 5,000 shares from $6.20-$9.14 and simultaneously sold the shares on the open market at $37 for gross proceeds of $185,000 alone isn’t enough to raise any eyebrows or red flags.
There are many reasons that insiders may sell shares which have nothing to do with their perception of the company’s prospects or valuation. However, when a week after the last insider sale the company discloses that the SEC is inquiring into the company’s methods for accounting for revenues, it starts to look a bit more dark and mysterious. It is worth noting that Keurig accounted for over half of GMCR revenue last year, so when the President of Keurig is selling, it is worth a further look. When the SEC discloses an inquiry into the companies accounting it is…
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DARK HORSE HEDGE – One More Cup of Coffee Before You Go, GMCR
by Sabrient - October 20th, 2010 9:59 pm
Reminder: Sabrient is available to chat with Members, comments are found below each post.
DARK HORSE HEDGE – One More Cup of Coffee Before You Go, GMCR
By Scott Brown at Sabrient, and Ilene at Phil’s Stock World
Your sister sees the future
Like your momma and yourself
You’ve never learned to read or write
There’s no books upon your shelfAnd your pleasure knows no limits
Your voice is like a meadowlark
But your heart is like an ocean
Mysterious and darkOne more cup of coffee for the road
One more cup of coffee ‘fore I go
To the valley below – Bob Dylan
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR) doesn’t at first glance seem like the type of company that would need to be “mysterious and dark” but when “pleasure knows no limits” it can down into a metaphorical valley. How does GMCR, engaged in the specialty coffee and coffee maker businesses, churning out quarterly profits that meet analyst expectations while growing at 61% per year over the past five years, and expected to grow another 35% over the next five years, end up at #18 on the Sabrient VCU short ranking?
The fact that Michelle Stacy, President of Keurig (patented single cup brewing technology for GMCR), exercised 30,000 options at $6.20 on August 13, 2010 and simultaneously sold the shares on the open market at $30.95 for gross proceeds of $928,500, again exercised 5,000 options at $6.20 on September 13, 2010 and simultaneously sold the shares on the open market at $35.40 for gross proceeds of $177,000 and a week later exercised another 5,000 shares from $6.20-$9.14 and simultaneously sold the shares on the open market at $37 for gross proceeds of $185,000 alone isn’t enough to raise any eyebrows or red flags.
There are many reasons that insiders may sell shares which have nothing to do with their perception of the company's prospects or valuation. However, when a week after the last insider sale the company discloses that the SEC is inquiring into the company's methods for accounting for revenues, it starts to look a bit more dark and mysterious. It is worth…
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FDIC Authorizes $1 Billion Lawsuits Against Failed-Bank Executives; Token Search for Low-Profile Scapegoats
by ilene - October 10th, 2010 4:41 pm
FDIC Authorizes $1 Billion Lawsuits Against Failed-Bank Executives; Token Search for Low-Profile Scapegoats
Courtesy of Mish
The FDIC has only brought one case to date against executives of failed banks. Supposedly more charges are coming.
Bloomberg reports FDIC May Seek $1 Billion From Failed-Bank Executives
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has authorized lawsuits against more than 50 officers and directors of failed banks as the agency aims to recoup more than $1 billion in losses stemming from the credit crisis.
The lawsuits were authorized during closed sessions of the FDIC board and haven’t been made public. The agency, which has shuttered 294 lenders since the start of 2008, has held off court action while conducting settlement talks with executives whose actions may have led to bank collapses, Richard Osterman, the FDIC’s acting general counsel, said in an interview.
“We’re ready to go,” Osterman said. “We could walk into court tomorrow and file the lawsuits.”
The FDIC, which reviews losses for every bank failure, has brought only one case against officers or directors tied to recent collapses — a suit filed in July seeking $300 million in damages from four executives of IndyMac Bancorp Inc.
The FDIC “brings suits only where they are believed to be sound on the merits and likely to be cost-effective,” according to an agency policy statement that dates from the savings-and- loan crisis of the 1980s. That requires considerations of whether an individual, if sued, has the means to pay or an insurance policy to cover all or part of the claim.
“It doesn’t make sense to file a lawsuit if at the end of the day you have a low chance of recovery,” Osterman said.
“It’s in both our interest and theirs to try and settle this matter before it gets into the court and we get into expensive litigation,” he said.
Political Stunt to Placate the Public
I see this as little more than a political stunt to placate the public. These cases are unlikely to go to trial, on purpose, and not for the reason the FDIC says.
The FDIC does not want to rattle the banking system, so they won’t. Instead they will settle most if not all of these cases for peanuts.
To make it look legit, the FDIC might pursue a couple of scapegoat cases, IndyMac being one of them, but don’t expect anything more.
Criminal…
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Class Action Complaint against Amedisys uses Sarbanes-Oxley Act Corporate Governance Provisions to Battle Alleged Corporate Malfeasance
by ilene - June 16th, 2010 5:35 pm
Interesting to note that these actions are not being brought because Amedisys may have gamed the Medicare System but rather on the basis that if it did in fact game it, AMED had an ethical obligation to disclose its tactics. - Ilene
Class Action Complaint against Amedisys uses Sarbanes-Oxley Act Corporate Governance Provisions to Battle Alleged Corporate Malfeasance
Courtesy of Sam Antar, White Collar Fraud
Last week, Pomerantz Haudek Grossman & Gross LLP filed a class action lawsuit against Amedisys (NASDAQ: AMED) charging the company, its CEO William F. Borne and its CFO Dale E. Redman with securities fraud. In the next few days, Bernstein Liebhard LLP and Finkelstein Thompson LLP filed similar class action lawsuits against the company. The lawsuits allege that Amedisys abused Medicare’s reimbursement system for at-home therapy care based on a compelling analysis of company revenues in an April 27 Wall Street Journal article.
In addition, the lawsuits innovatively utilize a provision under Section 406 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act 2002 which provides a back-door way for investors to force ethical corporate governance and sue public companies for malfeasance. That provision requires Senior Financial Officers, such as the CEO and CFO of public companies, to abide by a strict code of ethics which broadly defines corporate malfeasance and effectively makes it easier for defrauded investors to prove misconduct by certain senior executives. Suing public companies for code of ethic violations can be a potent tool to insure good corporate governance and conduct.
Allegations that Amedisys intentionally increased patient visits to trigger higher Medicare reimbursements
According to the Pomerantz press release:
Specifically, the Complaint alleges that defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose: (1) that the Company’s reported sales and earnings growth were materially impacted by a scheme whereby the Company intentionally increased the number of in-home therapy visits to patients for the purpose of triggering higher reimbursement rates under the Medicare home health prospective payment system, as those excess visits were not always medically necessary; (2) that the Company’s reported sales and earnings were inflated by said scheme and subject to recoupment by Medicare; (3) that the Company was in material violation of its Code of Ethical Business Conduct and compliance due to the scheme to inflate Medicare revenues; and (4) based on the foregoing, defendants lacked a basis for their positive
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Goldman Email Describes ‘Frankenstein’ Derivatives; Tourre Brags about Selling Abacus to “widows and orphans”; SEC Confident; German Bank Drops Goldman
by ilene - April 24th, 2010 10:13 pm
Goldman Email Describes ‘Frankenstein’ Derivatives; Tourre Brags about Selling Abacus to "widows and orphans"; SEC Confident; German Bank Drops Goldman
Courtesy of Mish
Goldman Sachs claims it it dis not mislead clients. Its defense will not be very convincing in the face of revealing emails with "fabulous Fab" bragging about dumping Abacus bonds on widows and orphans.
Please consider Goldman’s Tourre E-Mail Describes ‘Frankenstein’ Derivatives
Fabrice Tourre, a Goldman Sachs Group Inc. executive director facing a fraud lawsuit in the sale of a mortgage-linked investment, said an index that facilitated derivatives trading in the market was “like Frankenstein.”
The so-called ABX index is “the type of thing which you invent telling yourself: ‘Well, what if we created a ‘thing,’ which has no purpose, which is absolutely conceptual and highly theoretical and which nobody knows how to price?’” Tourre said in a Jan. 29, 2007, e-mail released yesterday by Goldman Sachs. Watching the index fall is “a little like Frankenstein turning against his own inventor.”
In a March 7, 2007, e-mail Tourre describes the U.S. subprime mortgage market as “not too brilliant” and says that “according to Sparks,” an apparent reference to Daniel Sparks who ran Goldman Sachs’s mortgage business at the time, “that business is totally dead, and the poor little subprime borrowers will not last too long!!!”
A few months later, a June 13, 2007, e-mail shows Tourre claiming, “I’ve managed to sell a few Abacus bonds to widows and orphans that I ran into at the airport, apparently these Belgians adore synthetic ABS CDO2,” using short-hand for asset- backed collateralized debt obligations squared, or CDOs made up of tranches of CDOs containing asset-backed securities.
Goldman Sachs Readies Forceful Defense
The Washington Post is reporting Goldman Sachs readies forceful response against claims it misled clients
Goldman Sachs is preparing its most detailed defense yet to allegations that it misled clients in its mortgage securities business, arguing that the firm was unsure whether housing prices would rise or fall and did not take any action at odds with the interests of its clients.
Goldman prepared the 11-page document to serve as the basis for testimony that chief executive Lloyd Blankfein is scheduled to deliver Tuesday before the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.
The Goldman paper describes debates among top executives in 2006 and 2007 over whether the firm should make investment decisions
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Democrats Claim Congress Has Authority to Make Everyone Buy Snuggies and Jupiter Jacks
by ilene - March 27th, 2010 8:00 pm
Democrats Claim Congress Has Authority to Make Everyone Buy Snuggies and Jupiter Jacks
Washington, D.C.--After Congress, for the first time in U.S. history, passed a law that requires everyone to purchase a particular product — in this case health insurance — over a dozen states have filed lawsuits arguing the legislation violates the Commerce Clause of the Constitution which grants Congress only the limited power to regulate activities that effect interstate transactions.
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The Rush for Money from Somewhere Other Than Work
by ilene - October 6th, 2009 5:25 pm
The Rush for Money from Somewhere Other Than Work
Courtesy of Charles Hugh Smith Of Two Minds
As jobs dry up, people are rushing to find some other source of income.
Both statistically and anecdotally, a rush to tap non-wage sources of income is underway. While shopping in an old-line hardware store slated for closure, the clerk assisting us noted as an aside, "I’m 62, so I can retire." He is not alone, as correspondent Craig M. sent in this story describing a leap in Social Security applications: Social Security Applications Almost Double Because of Recession
Applications for Social Security benefits rose almost 50 percent more than expected this year because of the recession, according to the federal retirement program.
“We are seeing a significant increase in both retirement and disability applications as a result of the recession,” said Mark Lassiter, a Social Security spokesman.
The 150,000 extra retirees may add to the financial pressure on the entitlement program. In May, Social Security trustees said expenses would exceed revenue beginning in 2016, one year earlier than their previous forecast.
The Social Security Administration had projected an increase of 315,000 applicants for the 12 months ending Sept. 30 partly because the first baby boomers — those born right after World War II — are starting to retire.
The actual increase was higher. Agency statistics show that 2.57 million people requested benefits, up from the 2.10 million applications received during the previous 12 months. That’s an increase of 465,000, or 47 percent higher than the expected rise.
Another standard source of non-wage income is disability and workers compensation. Social Security is receiving more applications for disability, and at least anecdotally there is some evidence that people about to get laid off are attempting to tap the workers compensation system as a backup source of income, in effect saving their unemployment insurance. Filing a "stress claim" just prior to being laid off freezes the worker’s employment status: they remain employed but are not costing the employer wages.
Eventually, the workers compensation fund paid by employers is depleted and the rates employers pay into the system will rise--but as a stopgap, an injury or stress claim relieves both employer and employee.
This being a litigious society, I suspect there is a rise in employment-related lawsuits. One of our friends who operates a small restaurant was just served with…
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Philip R. Davis is a founder Phil's Stock World, a stock and options trading site that teaches the art of options trading to newcomers and devises advanced strategies for expert traders...
Ilene is editor and affiliate program
coordinator for PSW.