Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
Really just pulling that out of my ass....Must be the strong coffee I'm having or something...
Today will be WSTN's day...
Monday, Mar. 17 2008
Bear Bailout: Employees’ Fortunes Vanish
One of the more stunning developments of the Bear Stearns (BSC) fire sale is that many of the firm's 14,000 employees, as well as its many thousands of shareholders, have just watched their stakes in the company go up in smoke.
What's more, Sunday's news that JPMorgan Chase (JPM) would purchase Bear for $236 million, or $2 a share -- a fraction of its value even from the close of trading Friday -- sent fears that there might not be much of Bear Stearns left when the merger is set to be completed later this year.
"This is gonna go down as the biggest theft in all of financial history, said William Smith, portfolio manager of Smith Asset Management and a former Bear employee. "The $2 a share stock price is more symbolic than anything because the alternative is nothing."
"This is one of the unfortunate stories on Wall Street. I'm a former Bear guy. I have friends over there. My friends just watched their fortunes vaporize," Smith added.
The deal between JPMorgan and Bear was whipped together over the weekend to save Bear from both bankruptcy and possible liquidation. If approved by Bear shareholders, it will bring an end to the company's 85-year-old history.
Bear's employees currently own about one-third of the firm's stock. It was considered a point of pride among Bear employees to own stock in the firm, and selling that stock was considered bad form. Indeed, employees often received their annual bonuses in the form of stock. Bonuses received recently are now basically worthless.
Even the company's top management was required to own significant stakes. Former Bear Chief Executive Jimmy Cayne's was worth nearly $1 billion as recent as last year when the firm's stock was at $170. That paper wealth has now evaporated.
Another big loser in this deal might be British billionaire Joseph Lewis, who currently owns a 9.6% stake in Bear. In just a few months Lewis has lost about $1.16 billion in paper wealth.
According to the terms of Sunday's deal, JPMorgan will exchange 0.05473 of its shares for one share of Bear Stearns. It values Bear at just $236 million, compared to Bear’s Friday market capitalization of $3.54 billion.
The deal is expected to close in the next 90 days, and is subject only to shareholder approval, which both banks expect to happen.
"JPMorgan Chase stands behind Bear Stearns," said JPMorgan Chief Executive Jamie Dimon in a press release Sunday. "Bear Stearns' clients and counterparties should feel secure that JPMorgan is guaranteeing Bear Stearns' counterparty risk."
Shareholder approval could become a point of contention. In a conference call Sunday night, an individual shareholder asked JPMorgan why this deal was better than bankruptcy. When JPMorgan officials refused to answer and directed the question to Bear, the shareholder defiantly told JPMorgan he would vote down the merger.
Bear's shares traded at more than $150 less than a year ago. The deal places Bear's stock at a 93% discount to Friday's close.
While an individual shareholder's voice might not be significant, it potentially echoes the sentiment of other shareholders. Bear has always been known as a defiantly independent organization. With Bear employees owning one-third of Bear, and individual and institutional investors feeling that $2 a share might be too little, there could be a proxy fight.
To finance the deal, the Federal Reserve approved up to $30 billion in special financing to help JPMorgan work through Bears illiquid assets, mostly complicated investments backed by subprime mortgages.
Bear's massive holdings in securities backed by subprime mortgages and other risky investments enabled JPMorgan to purchase the company at such a discount. These securities have been basically frozen since August, and Bear and others banks like Citigroup (C) and Merrill Lynch (MER) have had to sit back and watch as the value of these assets has collapsed.
JPMorgan's CFO said in a call to investors Sunday night that once the company acquires Bear it will conduct an "orderly" selling of approximately $5-6 billion of Bear's assets in order to get them off the balance sheet. The bank said that, even with the merger, JPMorgan plans to maintain its tier one capital ratio of 8%.
The $236 million price tag values Bear at less than the cost of its headquarters on Madison Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, which is worth about $1 billion, according to current real estate market estimates.
The discount is also largely due to the huge transaction costs JPMorgan said it will have to incur in order to acquire Bear. JPMorgan said those costs approach $6 billion, much of it related to litigation, as well as the cost of reducing the balance sheet, various accounting measures and costs related to physically merging the two companies.
Despite the huge discount, JPMorgan will in fact be acquiring several strong businesses, most notably Bear's prime brokerage and global clearing businesses. JPMorgan said it expects Bear will provide, once fully integrated, $1 billion in earnings for the firm.
This deal closed at near record speed. JPMorgan officials said they had a team of more than 200 people working on the deal over the weekend, collecting as much information on Bear as they could.
It was widely expected Bear would not survive the weekend based on the torment the company went through beginning last summer. The final decline began early last week when speculation hit the markets that Bear was having a tough time building its liquidity position.
According to the firm, those rumors escalated on Thursday, which caused some of the company's clients to pull their money out of the firm. In other words, Bear suffered from a classic example of a run on the bank.
"People wanted to get cash out," Bear Stearns CEO Alan Schwartz said Friday on a conference call. "At the pace we were going, the continued liquidity demands would outstrip our liquidity resources."
The deal between Bear and the Federal Reserve and JPMorgan was to keep Bear functioning "normally" for 28 days.
As part of the acquisition, JPMorgan said it would guarantee all past and future business by Bear until the transaction is approved. The banks said they have already spoken with regulators and believe they have more than enough support.
The guarantee is incredibly important for Bear, because the bank is going through an almost lightning-quick collapse of confidence in the company's ability to operate. Traders and other investment bankers said on Friday they refused to do business if Bear was the counterparty. With the backing of the larger and cleaner balance sheet of JPMorgan, Bear can return to business until the acquisition is completed.
HAPPY DAY!
Well if you got em....
And back where we started today...
Especially when the Feds say we won't let you lose on the deal...
Somebody lost their "paycents"...
Too bad all my money is tied up in BSC.....JK!
WTF....
A-FREAKEN-MEN!!!!!!!!
Wonder who has the other board mark here? Care to speak up???
Amen!!!
"The endless dumping without any relief will drive this into an area that this stock WILL NEVER recover from. That is a guarantee."
Please understand that he does not care that it drives the price to hell as he will only have to do a RS at that time and not only will he have funded his company on the backs of shareholders but will have effectivly screwed them in the process. As for the "I'm a shareholder as well" crap it would be nice to see just what kind of a salary he is paying himself.
Glad to see some have finally figured that out... 000. is up shortly...
BJ's Restaurants, Inc. to Present at March Conferences; Also Comments on Its Short-Term Investment Holdings
HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif., Mar 06, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- BJ's Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ: BJRI) today announced that management will be presenting at two investor conferences in March. The details of the conferences are listed below:
-- Bank of America 2008 Consumer Conference at the Palace Hotel, New York, NY - The presentation will begin at approximately 3:20pm (Eastern) on Tuesday, March 11, 2008.
-- 2008 Citigroup Small & Mid-Cap Conference at the Four Seasons at Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas, NV - The presentation will begin at approximately 1:45pm (Pacific) on Wednesday, March 19, 2008.
The presentation for each conference will be broadcast over the Internet. Interested parties can listen to the presentations by accessing the "Investors" page of the Company's website located at www.bjsrestaurants.com. To access the live simulcast of the presentation, please go to the Company's website at least 15 minutes prior to the presentation to download and install any necessary audio software. Archives of the webcasts will be made available following the live presentation for a period of approximately 30 days from the date of the presentation
The Company also noted that it has $37 million of auction rate securities currently included in its short-term investment portfolio. The auction-rate securities are AAA rated, long-term debt obligations secured by student loans, which loans are generally 97% guaranteed by the U.S. Government under the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP). In addition to the U.S. Government guarantee on such student loans, many of the securities also have separate insurance policies guaranteeing both the principal and accrued interest. Liquidity for these securities has historically been provided by an auction process that resets the applicable interest rate at pre-determined intervals up to 35 days. In the past, the auction process has allowed investors to obtain immediate liquidity if so desired by selling the securities at their face amounts. However, as has been recently reported in the financial press, the current disruptions in the credit markets have adversely affected the auction market for these types of securities. From February 11, 2008 to March 5, 2009, all auctions scheduled with respect to the Company's auction rate securities have failed to close. This is the first time the Company has experienced this type of event for its holdings of auction rate securities. The Company understands that the failure of auctions is broad based and not limited to those securities held by the Company. The auction rate securities continue to pay interest at rates that are generally higher than the current market rate, and there has been no change in the rating of these securities to date.
As a result of the failed auctions, these securities are currently not liquid and, furthermore, the Company cannot predict how long they will remain illiquid. As such, at least in the near term, the Company may or may not be able to liquidate some or all of its remaining auction rate securities prior to their maturities at prices approximating their face amounts. The final maturity dates of the auction rate securities which the Company owns is between 2020 and 2047. The current market for the auction rate securities held by the Company is uncertain and the Company will continue to monitor and evaluate the market for these securities to determine if impairment of the carrying value of the securities has occurred due to the loss of liquidity or for other reasons. If the credit ratings of the security issuers deteriorate or if normal market conditions do not return in the near future, the Company may be required to reduce the value of these securities through an impairment charge against net income and reflect them as long-term investments on its balance sheet for the period ending April 1, 2008 or thereafter.
Based on the Company's current and projected cash flow from operations, cash balances on hand, agreed-upon landlord construction contributions and its undrawn $25 million credit facility, Company management believes that the current lack of liquidity of its auction rate securities holdings will not have a material impact on the Company's ability to fund its operations or continue its expansion. However, if current conditions in the auction rate securities market continue for a prolonged period, the Company's longer-term financial flexibility could be impacted until other sources of capital are obtained. While the Company has a credit facility in place which it may currently draw upon, in the event that global credit market conditions further deteriorate, it is possible that creditors could place limitations or restrictions on the ability of borrowers in general to draw on existing credit facilities. At this time, however, the Company has no indication that any such limitations or restrictions are likely to occur. As an additional liquidity enhancement and at the Company's option, the financial institution that provides the Company's $25 million credit facility has agreed in principle to increase the size of that facility to $45 million, subject to final terms and customary documentation.
BJ's Restaurants, Inc. currently owns and operates 70 casual dining restaurants under the BJ's Restaurant & Brewery, BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse or BJ's Pizza & Grill brand names. BJ's restaurants offer an innovative and broad menu featuring award-winning, signature deep-dish pizza complemented with generously portioned salads, sandwiches, soups, pastas, entrees and desserts. Quality, flavor, value, moderate prices and sincere service remain distinct attributes of the BJ's experience. The Company operates several microbreweries which produce and distribute BJ's critically acclaimed handcrafted beers throughout the chain. The Company's restaurants are located in California (39), Texas (11), Arizona (4), Colorado (3), Oregon (3), Nevada (2), Florida (3), Ohio (2), Oklahoma (2) and Kentucky (1). The Company also has a licensing interest in a BJ's restaurant in Lahaina, Maui. Visit BJ's Restaurants, Inc. on the Web at http://www.bjsrestaurants.com.
Certain statements in the preceding paragraphs and all other statements that are not purely historical constitute "forward-looking statements" for purposes of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and are intended to be covered by the safe harbors created thereby. Such statements include statements regarding the liquidity of market-rate securities and the possibility of impairment charges related thereto, as well as statement regarding the need for available working capital in future periods. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause actual results to be materially different from those projected or anticipated. Factors that might cause such differences include, but are not limited to: (i) our ability to manage an increasing number of new restaurant openings, (ii) construction delays, (iii) labor shortages, (iv) minimum wage increases, (v) food quality and health concerns, (vi) factors that impact California, where 39 of our current 70 restaurants are located, (vii) restaurant and brewery industry competition, (viii) impact of certain brewery business considerations, including without limitation, dependence upon suppliers and related hazards, (ix) consumer spending trends in general for casual dining occasions, (x) potential uninsured losses and liabilities, (xi) fluctuating commodity costs and availability including food in general, certain raw materials related to the brewing of our handcrafted beers and energy, (xii) trademark and servicemark risks, (xiii) government regulations, (xiv) licensing costs, (xv) beer and liquor regulations, (xvi) loss of key personnel, (xvii) inability to secure acceptable sites, (xviii) limitations on insurance coverage, (xix) legal proceedings, (xx) other general economic and regulatory conditions and requirements, (xxi) the success of our key sales-building and related operational initiatives (xxii) disruption in the credit markets and in particular, the market for auction rate securities and (xxiii) numerous other matters discussed in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. BJ's Restaurants, Inc. undertakes no obligation to update or alter its forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Further information concerning the Company's results of operations for the year ended January 1, 2008 will be provided in the Company's Form 10-K filing, to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission by March 17, 2008.
SOURCE: BJ's Restaurants, Inc.
CONTACT: BJ's Restaurants, Inc.
Greg Levin, (714) 500-2400
Copyright Business Wire 2008
-0-
KEYWORD: United States
North America
California
INDUSTRY KEYWORD: Restaurant/Bar
Retail
Food/Beverage
Other Retail
SUBJECT CODE: Conference
Economic News/Analysis
Webcast
Looks like it likes to bounce off 12.00 for now...
WOW...
That is fantastic.....
How come?
You sure?
Really?
I will gladly pay you tomorrow for some WSTN news today...
Utah pair charged in stock scheme.
By Dale Kasler - dkasler@sacbee.com
Published 1:21 pm PDT Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Two Utah residents were charged Tuesday with fraud in connection with a stock-trading program they were peddling from Sacramento to Boston.
Linda Woolf, 48, and David Gengler, 33, were indicted and sued over their sales pitch on behalf of an instructional course called "Teach Me to Trade," which cost up to $40,000 per customer. The two made a combined $6.3 million from 2003 to 2006, according to the lawsuit, filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Touring the nation relentlessly, Gengler appeared at four free seminars in Sacramento from 2004 to 2006 to promote the program, the SEC said. Woolf came to Sacramento once, in July 2005. The pair also appeared in infomercials.
The criminal indictment and SEC lawsuit say essentially the same thing: Woolf and Gengler lied to customers about their credentials, claiming to be experienced stock traders when they were nothing of the sort.
The SEC's suit demands that Woolf and Gengler return their earnings and pay fines.
Frederic Firestone, an associate director of the SEC's enforcement division, said he had no information on how many programs were sold in the Sacramento area. Asked about the usefulness of the programs, he said: "The allegations are about the sales pitch, not about the product itself." The program consisted of classes, software and promises of personal mentoring.
If convicted on the criminal charges, they could face up to 30 years in prison.
toot toot
Nice week so far.... Just need to kick WSTN in the butt for the Triple Monte...
Spitzer Is Linked to Prostitution Ring
By DANNY HAKIM and WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM
ALBANY - Gov. Eliot Spitzer has informed his most senior administration officials that he had been involved in a prostitution ring, an administration official said this morning.
Mr. Spitzer, who was huddled with his top aides inside his Fifth Avenue apartment early this afternoon, had hours earlier abruptly canceled his scheduled public events for the day. He scheduled an announcement for 2:15 after inquiries from the Times.
Mr. Spitzer, a first term Democrat who pledged to bring ethics reform an end the often seamy ways of Albany, is married with three children.
Just last week, federal prosecutors arrested four people in connection with an expensive prostitution operation. Administration officials would not say that this was the ring with which the governor had become involved.
But a person with knowledge of the governor’s role said that the person believes the governor is one of the men identified as clients in court papers.
The governor’s travel records show that he was in Washington in mid-February. One of the clients described in court papers arranged to meet with a prostitute who was part of the ring, the Emperors Club VIP on the night of Feb. 13.
Mr. Spitzer appeared on a CNBC television show at 7 a.m. the next morning. Later in the morning, he testified before a Congressional committee.
An affidavit filed in federal court in Manhattan in connection with that case lists six conversations between the man, identified as Client 9, and a booking agent for the Emperors Club.
He had a difficult first year in office, rocked by a mix of scandal and legislative setbacks. In recent weeks, however, Mr. Spitzer seemed to have rebounded, with his Democratic party poised to perhaps gain control of the state Senate for the first time in four decades.
Mr. Spitzer gained national attention when he served as attorney general with his relentless pursuit of Wall Street wrongdoing. As attorney general, he also had prosecuted at least two prostitution rings as head of the state’s organized crime task force.
In one such case in 2004, Mr. Spitzer spoke with revulsion and anger after announcing the arrest of 16 people for operating a high-end prostitution ring out of Staten Island.
“”This was a sophisticated and lucrative operation with a multitiered management structure,” Mr. Spitzer said at the time. ”It was, however, nothing more than a prostitution ring.”
Albany for months been roiled by bitter fighting and accusations of dirty tricks. The Albany County district attorney is set to issue in the coming days the results of his investigation into Mr. Spitzer’s first scandal, his aides’ involvement in an effort to tarnish Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno, the state’s top Republican.
They are dumping shares and it seems the "TA" is in on the action. There is simply no other way to explain what has happened here. Call the SEC...
"Anyone have any idea how to save?"
TELL THE DAUGHTER TO GET A JOB
Oh my I just wet myself...
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=27448692
Amen!
That is fantastic...
Oh billy billy billy billy billy.....
Damn...
Somebody posted about free beer today so I'm wondering where it is?
Well said....
Hey why don't you stop and take a minute to toot your own horn...
Dollar Drops to Record Low Against Euro on Weak US Jobs Data, but Later Rebounds in Europe
Friday March 7, 12:29 pm ET
By Matt Moore, AP Business Writer
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) -- The dollar briefly fell Friday to a record low against the euro after data showed U.S. job cuts hit the biggest monthly number in five years.
But the currency regained lost ground and was trading higher against the euro by late afternoon in Europe as traders digested the Federal Reserve's announcement that it would provide more cash to the banks that need it.
The U.S. Labor Department said American employers cut 63,000 jobs in February -- the starkest sign yet that the U.S. is heading toward a recession or in one already.
Those fears pushed the 15-nation euro as high as $1.5463, the latest in a string of all-time highs but the surge was cut short as the focus shifted to a Fed announcement that it would boost the size of auctions planned for March 10 and March 24 to $50 billion each. That is up from the $30 billion limits it had previously announced. The auctions serve as short-term loans to get banks the cash they need to keep lending to their customers.
That pushed the euro down to $1.5356 in late afternoon European trading -- below the $1.5370 it bought late Thursday in New York.
European businesses say they are starting to feel the pinch, notably from U.S.-based buyers who assert that the high euro makes European goods more expensive.
Also Friday, the British pound traded above the $2 mark for a second day, buying $2.0145 -- above the $2.0092 it bought late Thursday in New York. It had jumped Thursday after the Bank of England kept its key interest rate unchanged at 5.25 percent.
The dollar fell as low as 101.40 Japanese yen, near a three-year low, before it recovered to 102.83 yen in late European trading. It was still down from 103.09 yen late Thursday.
"The prolonged silence from the Japanese camp in the face of the yen's gains is not only historic but rather conducive to its ascent," said Ashraf Laidi, the chief foreign exchange analyst at CMC Markets in New York.
He said the Federal Reserve's priority of tackling the economic slowdown over inflation will "make the 100 yen figure an inevitability."
That could happen "as early as this month, especially if the Fed opts for a 75 basis point easing on March 18," he said.
Lower interest rates can jump-start a nation's economy, but can weigh on its currency as traders transfer funds to countries where they can earn higher returns.