Diamonds and Dogs
5/1/12
Herbalife Ltd. (HLF)Herbalife focuses on providing products to health conscious consumers; it sells weight management, nutritional supplement, energy, sports, fitness, and personal care products. Herbalife seemed to go on a crash diet today, losing 22.87% of its value; with shares now trading at $54.24. Herbalife shares tanked after hedge fund manager, David Einhorn, questioned the company. After Einhorn called the market crash due to subprime mortgages, the market seems to listen when he talks. Einhorn was not inquiring about the earnings as global net sales jumped 21%, and net income rose 22%. Instead Einhorn focused on how the company accounts for particular kinds of distributors, and why that was no longer disclosed in annual reports. This questioned showed that Einhorn might be seeing things that others are not, and therefore has led many investors heading for the sidelines.
P.F. Chang's China Bistro Inc. (PFCB)
PF Chang's China Bistro grew larger than China's population today, up 29.86% at $51.46. P.F. Chang's exploded today on the news that it was going to sell itself to Centerbridge Partners for $1.1 billion. Centerbridge announced that P.F. Chang's would go private following the sale, and shareholders of P.F. Chang's would receive $51.50 per share, a 30% premium to Monday's closing price. The company has been beaten up as it was forced to raise prices to keep its margins up. Furthermore, companies such as McDonalds, Chipotle Mexican Grill, and Panera Bread have been competing with P.F. Chang's on pricing. These pricing issues led the company to report a first quarter profit that was down 42% at $6.3 million; clearly missing analyst's estimates. P.F. Chang's has until May 31st to try and obtain superior bids, although it is thought that there will not be any other bids. P.F. Chang's went on a great run today going up $11.77!
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