OldPro, Shouldn't the earnings for Q4-07 be out next week? For some reason they always seem to issue the revenue data right after the quarter ends, but the earnings figures don't come out until 6 weeks later.
Do you know if the company plans a conf call in Spring? They definitely need to have conf calls more often. The analyst interviewed on Market Watch several weeks ago also noted that lack of shareholder communication is a problem for Lifeway. He really lambasted the company for failing to provide any guidance prior to the .03 cent quarter debacle. That's the kind of thing that can put Wall St analysts off a stock for a long time. They also need to provide more info on the retail store concept. Is the Chicago store a one-off exercise, a test run to be expanded upon in Chicago, or beyond? What will the costs be in opening/running these stores?
Another question I have is what's up with all the trading they seem to do with the company's cash every quarter? This usually adds to profits, but seems unorthodox and risky. Do you know if this trading is related to milk futures or something? That would make sense to do, but over on the Yahoo board discussion a while back, it sounded like they were doing trading outside of the realm of what is related to the company's business.
The completion of the plant expansion was very good news, as was the expansion in distribution in Colorado. Milk prices have moderated, which is a plus. For the last quarter I'm guessing around .04-.05 in earnings (up from the previous disastrous .03, but still way down from the blowout .07 quarters of early 2007). Since there may not be additional acquisition targets out there like Helios, Lifeway needs to keep aggressively expanding their distribution network.
