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B R E A K F A S T W I T H T H E F O O L Tuesday, November 28, 2000 benjamin.rogers@enron.com _________________________________________________________________ REGISTER TO BECOME A FOOL -- GET FREE STUFF! http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=214562 _________________________________________________________________ Sponsored By: InvestorPlace.com There are 4 questions you MUST ask before investing a penny in any tech stock in 2001. But 99.9% of investors don't know what they are. Do you? FREE REPORT reveals details: http://www.lnksrv.com/m.asp?i=214563 "Bankruptcy is a legal proceeding in which you put your money in your pants pocket and give your coat to your creditors." -- Joey Adams BASSETT HOUNDS The furniture specialist barks -- and it bites. By Rick Aristotle Munarriz Bad news is like sandpaper -- it can wear you down until you're dull and finished. Bassett Furniture (Nasdaq: BSET) becomes the latest home furnishings specialist to send out pink slips and warn of reupholstered financials. Earlier this month, Furniture.com discontinued operations. http://www.lnksrv.com/m.asp?i=214564 However, unlike Furniture.com's inability to secure financing to subsidize losses, Bassett remains profitable despite trying times in the furniture industry. Higher oil prices make shipping bulky pieces as costly as it is cumbersome. Even worse, rising interest rates have slowed the housing market to a crawl. Without new homes to stock up with new furniture, the industry becomes as attractive as that hideous barcolounger collecting dust in your attic. The soft demand now finds Bassett expecting fourth-quarter earnings per share to come in as much as a dime below the $0.42 consensus estimate. To offset the cyclical weakness, the company also announced a consolidation of its domestic wood manufacturing operations. Ultimately, 280 workers will be displaced. However, the wood chuck won't disrupt the company's modest growth plans. The company is still on track to open 52-65 new Bassett Furniture Direct and At Home retail stores a year over the long term. Bassett also won't reduce its dividend. That's welcome news to yield investors who are drawn to the $0.20 quarterly dividend. The company's hefty payout -- a 6.8% yield based on yesterday's close -- will keep the stock from falling too far down. Selling at just 8-9 times this year's freshly revised earnings and with savings looking to beef up the bottom line in years ahead, maybe Bassett isn't howling at the moon. Lowering costs in domestic production in the face of cheaper Asian imports is a painful yet necessary step. Like the company itself, the move will pay nice dividends when housewarming gifts once again line the porches of suburbia. _________________________________________________________________ NEWS TO GO High fiber? Communications infrastructure heavyweight Dycom (NYSE: DY) reported better-than-expected earnings on a 46% spurt in profits. The $0.51-a-share showing was seven cents ahead of analyst estimates. Total contract revenue climbed by 32% for the quarter. Dycom also named President and CEO Steven Nielsen as its Chairman, succeeding the retired Thomas Pledger. Nielsen will wear all three hats. He will also preside over the company's acquisition of privately held Point to Point Communications. Is it Kevorkian or Kerkorian? Billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian, DaimlerChrysler's (NYSE: DCX) fifth-largest shareholder, is suing the car maker for $9 billion. Kerkorian is all revved up over his claim that the 1998 merger between Daimler Benz and Chrysler was sold to him as a marriage of equals. In his view, the European Mercedes Benz parent is clearly in the driver's seat now. He'd rather play shotgun than ride shotgun. According to Kerkorian, it was deception that caused him to submit his 14% stake in Chrysler in favor of the union. The good, the bad, and the Covad (Nasdaq: COVD). The struggling DSL provider has announced layoffs and will be scaling back its marketing and network expansion costs. The expense reductions should amount to 20-30% in annual savings beyond the onetime charge, but that alone won't vault the company to profitability. Many of the high-speed connection purveyors have had to temper their expectations in recent months. Earlier, Covad had to restate third-quarter results when it was having trouble collecting from deadbeat cash-strapped ISP customers. Like country, like company. Altera (Nasdaq: ALTR) and AT&T (NYSE: T) have announced new presidents. There were no dimpled chads in the board room. H & R Block (NYSE: HRB) ahead? Pall (NYSE: PLL) bearer? Is ADC Telecommunications (Nasdaq: ADCT) OK? These are just some of the questions the market will answer when the companies report quarterly results today. Check out yesterday's Foolish market wrap-up with just one click. http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=214565 _________________________________________________________________ EDITORS' PICK Get the juicy details on Odwalla's comeback, including an impressive increase in its stock value. http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=214566 _______________________________________________________________ -News & Commentary http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=214567 -Fool Community http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=214568 -Post of the Day http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=214569 -Latest Fribble http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=214570 -Latest Market Numbers http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=214571 ____________________________________________________________ My Portfolio: http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=214572 My Discussion Boards: http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=214573 My Fool: http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=214574 Fool.com Home: http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=214575 My E-Mail Settings: http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=214576 Sponsored By: InvestorPlace.com There are 4 questions you MUST ask before investing a penny in any tech stock in 2001. But 99.9% of investors don't know what they are. Do you? FREE REPORT reveals details: http://www.lnksrv.com/m.asp?i=214577 17 INDUSTRIES WORTH A LOOK See which industries our writers think will be hot next year with Industry Focus 2001. http://www.lnksrv.com/m.asp?i=214578 TEN SECRETS TO RETIRING EARLY Read a free preview of this report on Soapbox.com http://www.lnksrv.com/m.asp?i=214579 FOOL DIRECT E-MAIL SERVICES Need to change your address or unsubscribe? You can also temporarily suspend mail delivery. Click here: http://www.fool.com/community/freemail/freemaillogin.asp?email=benjamin.rogers @enron.com< Have ideas about how we can improve the Fool Direct or new e-mail products you'd like to see? Try our discussion board: http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=214580 ____________________________________________________ © Copyright 2000, The Motley Fool. All rights reserved. This material is for personal use only. Republication and redissemination, including posting to news groups, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of The Motley Fool. . MsgId: msg-24031-2000-11-28_8-59-57-3239776_2_Plain_MessageAddress.msg-09:05:17(11-28 -2000) X-Version: mailer-sender-master,v 1.84 X-Version: mailer-sender-daemon,v 1.84 Message-Recipient: benjamin.rogers@enron.com
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