Convenient’s Woes Worsened by Unhappy Franchisees — Food-Store Firm’s Plight Shows How Bad Relations Add Even More Grief

In many ways, Convenient Food Mart Inc. resembles a typical struggling company. There are millions of dollars in losses, a shareholders’ suit and a 90% drop in its stock price in the past year. But unlike many such companies, Convenient must also contend with angry franchisees. Recently, about 60 of its convenience-store franchisees in New York state broke away from the chain by pulling down their Convenient signs and putting up their own banners. In addition, other groups of franchisees have been ganging up on Convenient, initiating lawsuits. The liquidity shortage last year prompted Convenient and its lenders to work out a restructuring of its $44 million debt last December. Separately, an Illinois shareholder filed a suit in a Cook County Circuit Court against the company, current and former officers, and its former auditors, alleging financial misstatements and seeking unspecified damages. Convenient hasn’t yet filed its response to the suit; its former auditor, Laventhol & Horwath, is seeking the suit’s dismissal.
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By Barbara Marsh

Full text: [Wall Street Journal] May 18, 1989

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Business Brief — Holiday Corp.: Firm’s Lake Tahoe Casino Could Fetch Premium Price

Holiday Corp. indicated the sale of one of its plum casino resorts could fetch about $400 million — a price tag that exceeded some analysts’ expectations and sparked a rally in gaming company stock prices.
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Full text: [Wall Street Journal] May 18, 1989

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Business and Finance

MAJOR CENTRAL BANKS are readying another huge intervention effort to bring the skyrocketing dollar under control, government officials said. The coming intervention is expected to pose a major test for the Group of Seven’s credibility and its campaign to coordinate exchange rates and economic policy. Amway withdrew its $39-a-share takeover offer for Avon after the cosmetics maker rejected the bid. The pullout surprised analysts, but some speculated that Amway hoped an expected drop in Avon’s stock price will put pressure on the company. R.H. Macy and Limited have held preliminary talks about a possible Limited investment in the department store chain, sources said. Macy is said to have held talks with other investors amid speculation the retailer is nervous about its huge debt.
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Full text: [Wall Street Journal] May 18, 1989

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P-E ratio often key to market

- Where P-Es have fallen sharply: Companies that could suffer most from an economic downturn. Investors aren’t willing to pay as much for the recent earnings of chemical firms, for example, because they believe earnings will be lower a year from now. So Du Pont’s P-E is 11 now vs. 20 at the 1987 peak. Likewise, homebuilder The Ryland Group’s P-E has been slashed to 6 vs. 11. If nothing else, remember that buying low P-E stocks is almost always less risky than buying high P-E stocks. With a high P-E, there’s little room in the stock for disappointment – as shareholders of such 1987 high-fliers as retailers Limited and Liz Claiborne found out. A P-E simply is a stock’s price divided by the company’s earnings per share over the most recent four quarters. The higher the P-E, the more you’re paying relative to the earnings that back the stock.
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David Craig

Full text: [USA TODAY (pre-1997 Fulltext)] May 18, 1989

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Is bull on the run?;Or is bear resting?

It’s a bull: “The bears are grabbing at straws,” says Stephen Leeb, editor of Indicator Digest newsletter in Palisades Park, N.J. “This is a fabulous bull market.” Corporate profits still are rising, stock price-earnings ratios are down, and inflation is easing, Leeb says. What’s more, the stronger dollar is making U.S. stocks increasingly attractive to foreign investors, he says. As the dollar goes up, it automatically makes U.S. stocks more valuable in foreign currencies, even if stock prices just stay flat. If stocks and the dollar rally together, it’s gravy for foreign investors. Leeb thinks the market looks especially good just on fundamentals:By his estimate, the Dow Jones industrials are trading at less than 10 times estimated 1989 earnings per share. Other analysts dispute the “quality” of earnings. But to Leeb, “It is indisputable that stocks are cheap.”
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How Strong Is the Stock Market? Here Are the Best Yardsticks

Four different measures that can be used to determine the strength of the current stock market are explained: dividend yields, or annual payout divided by stock price; trading volume of stocks; net new highs; and, the advance-decline line.
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Full text: [USA TODAY] May 18, 1989

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U.S. trade figures spur stocks to modest gains

North American stock prices posted modest gains yesterday after the U.S. government reported better-than-expected trade figures and in anticipation of inflation figures to be released in the United States today. Wall Street analysts said the Commerce Department report on the U.S. trade deficit triggered the Big Board’s advance. The report indicated the deficit narrowed to $8.86 billion in March.
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Full text: [The Gazette] May 18, 1989

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FINANCE/NEW ISSUES; Levi Strauss to Sell Shares In Japan Unit to the Japanese

Joseph M. Maurer, vice president and treasurer of Levi Strauss, said the offering in Japan, where stock prices are high, was an effective way to raise money for its fast-growing Japanese subsidiary, whose sales grew 40 percent last year, to about $119 million. Selling a stake to the Japanese public would also help Levi Strauss Japan gain an image as a Japanese company, which is important for success in that market, he said. At the time of the buyout, Levi management said going private would allow the company, owned mainly by descendants of Levi Strauss, to concentrate on long-term goals without having to satisfy Wall Street’s need for quarterly profit improvements.
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ANDREW POLLACK, Special to The New York Times

Full text: [New York Times] May 18, 1989

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Stocks Edge Higher; Dow Up 8.98

Stock prices for May 17, 1989 are given.
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Full text: [Los Angeles Times] May 18, 1989

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Florida Acts to Bar Blinder From State

Florida officials moved Wednesday to kick Englewood-based Blinder, Robinson & Co. out of the state, alleging it bilked customers of millions of dollars while peddling penny stocks. Florida Comptroller Gerald Lewis accused the firm of manipulating the price of stocks and named 29 current and former officers in the civil complaint. The officers included company President Meyer Blinder and his son, company Vice President Larry Blinder. “You’d think people would be able to trust a company that is this big, but we don’t believe Blinder can be trusted in Florida any longer,” Lewis said. (excerpt)
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Sleeth, Peter

Full text: [Denver Post] May 18, 1989

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Florida Acts to Bar Blinder from State

Florida officials moved to bar Englewood CO-based Blinder, Robinson & Co from the state, alleging it bilked customers of millions of dollars in penny stocks. They accused the firm of manipulating stock prices and named 29 company officers in the civil complaint.
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Sleeth, Peter

Full text: [Denver Post] May 18, 1989

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Bank Stocks Soar on Airport Vote

Colorado bank stocks soared to their highest prices in a year Wednesday, as institutional investors nationwide responded to Tuesday’s Denver airport vote as a sign of renewed vigor in the state’s economy. Stock prices at Colorado’s four major publicly traded banks and savings and loans catapulted an average 5.5 percent in the first day trading following voters’ resounding approval of the city’s new airport. The same stocks have shown only gradual increases since the end of 1988. Some institutions’ shares traded in volumes as much as 17 times their normal level. (excerpt)
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Wilmsen, Steve
Kowalski, Robert
Frerking, Beth

Full text: [Denver Post] May 18, 1989

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Cautious market manages to end on an upbeat

Stocks shook off a mixed reaction to the latest trade report Wednesday, as traders pushed prices higher after focusing on the soaring dollar. The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials rose 8.98 to 2462.43, recouping most of Tuesday’s 10.44-point setback. However, some nervousness set in late in the session, as traders began to consider Thursday’s report on consumer prices for April. Market players hope for a repeat of last month’s performance, when stock prices jumped sharply in response to the producer and consumer price reports.
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Chicago Tribune wires.

Full text: [Chicago Tribune (pre-1997 Fulltext)] May 18, 1989

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Stocks Shrug Off Inflation Data, Post Sixth Rise in Past 7 Sessions

The stock market, shrugging off a mildly bearish-to-neutral consumer price index report, yesterday rode a wave of optimism to its sixth gain in the past seven sessions. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 7.69 to 2470.12, a post-crash high — and 252.10, or 9.3%, short of its all-time high set two months before the 1987 crash. A factor greasing the stock market’s rise has been heavier-than-normal stock-index futures trading, and the related program buying of stock. Although yesterday wasn’t the busiest day recently for such activity, futures-related program buying just after 10:30 a.m. EDT helped push stock prices sharply higher, traders said. Despite the increased focus again on program trading, the amount of the activity dropped off in April after two months of advances, the New York Stock Exchange reported yesterday. The exchange said program trading in April amounted to 7.6% of average daily volume of 161.9 million shares, or 12.3 million shares a day, down from 11.1% of volume in March.
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By William Power and David Wilson

Full text: [Wall Street Journal] May 19, 1989

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Huizenga Says Blockbuster Won’t Bomb

Last week, the stock of his video chain went into a temporary free fall after an executive of Bear, Stearns & Co. alleged Blockbuster used “dubious” accounting methods to inflate its 1988 earnings. “Bear Stearns doesn’t understand a Blockbuster store,” says Mr. Huizenga, 51 years old, who has built Blockbuster into what he proudly calls “the McDonald’s of video stores.” For one thing, he says the investment firm doesn’t understand the company’s amortization accounting practices. For another, he believes it was unduly influenced by traders who are short on the stock of the Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based company. Janet Pegg, a Bear Stearns vice president who worked on the report, said the firm wasn’t influenced by short investors and stands by its report. Short stock investments are those in which an investor borrows shares and sells them, hoping the stock price will go down so he can repay the lender with lower-priced shares. As of last month, Mr. Huizenga says, investors had short positions on about 1.4 million of Blockbuster’s float of 20.9 million shares. (Blockbuster has 31 million common shares oustanding, but the company says insiders hold about 10 million of that.)
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By Peter Waldman

Full text: [Wall Street Journal] May 19, 1989

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Earnings: Campbell up

The company said several special items cut 14 cents a share from the results. The most notable: Rising stock prices. The company had to pay more than expected for Campbell stock used in a management incentive program. When John Dorrance, Campbell’s chairman and major shareholder died in April, the stock surged on speculation that his family holdings would be sold.
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Full text: [USA TODAY (pre-1997 Fulltext)] May 19, 1989

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Chrysler to buy Thrifty car rental

Gerald Greenwald, Chrysler vice chairman, says the offer was high – nearly 30 times last year’s earnings – to avoid wrangling with shareholders who might expect higher bids. TEXT OF GRAPHIC About Thrifty Headquarters: Tulsa CEO/Pres.: William E. Lobeck Jr. Rental locations: 357 in USA 301 foreign Fleet: Averages 33,000 vehicles, 75% are Chrysler autos Market share: 5.3% Third-quarter 1989 (ended March 31): Revs.: $28.6 million Net income: $2.6 million Fiscal 1988 (ended June 30): Revs.: $79.3 million Net income: $9.1 million Stock price: 52 wk. hi/lo: $27 1/4 / $10 1/4 Thurs. close: $27 1/4, +9 Rental customers probably won’t see any change. Thrifty’s fleet already is 75% Chrysler products, and Chrysler officials say Thrifty managers will stay.
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James R. Healey

Full text: [USA TODAY (pre-1997 Fulltext)] May 19, 1989

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Union Enterprises Ltd. taking $8 million charge on Midland investment

Through Union Enterprises, Unicorp controls 34 per cent of Midland Doherty. Unicorp chairman George Mann replied that his top executives are among the best in Canada, while [James Leech] cited several possible reasons for the poor stock prices. Leech claimed that moving much of the merchant banking business into Kingsbridge Capital, and bringing Lincoln Savings directly under Unicorp Canada, will help Unicorp’s image on the market.
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Kenneth Kidd Toronto Star

Full text: [Toronto Star] May 19, 1989

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Ameritrust to buy stock for employee ownership

Figures for NYSE odd-lot transactions Wednesday indicate only those shares traded through the exchange. They were: customer purchases 487,200; short sales 4,627; other sales 587,239; total sales 591,866.
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MIRIAM HILL
STAFF WRITER

Full text: [The Plain Dealer] May 19, 1989

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Stock prices move higher as market participants shrug off CPI jump

Figures for NYSE odd-lot transactions Wednesday indicate only those shares traded through the exchange. They were: customer purchases 487,200; short sales 4,627; other sales 587,239; total sales 591,866.
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GAIL LEM

Full text: [The Globe and Mail] May 19, 1989

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