Coke CEO Retires

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Coke CEO Retires

Seems like a lot of CEO's have retired recently.

-- John Ainsworth (ainsje00@wfu.edu), December 06, 1999

Answers

Coke GI a long time ago and freely admits to stockpiling supplies such as sugar and spare parts.

This retirement may well be OT, but then maybe not. Coke depends on the entire world for its bottom line. And we all agree that all is not well abroad.

-- semper paratus (always@ready.now), December 06, 1999.


Remember the European Coke scare from last summer?

-- Buster Collins (BustrCollins@aol.com), December 06, 1999.

I talked to the Coke analyst/friend/fraternity brother at one of the most prestigious Wall St. firms about a month ago the day Coke dropped 10%. When asked whether he included Y2K in his estimates for next year he said no. When asked why, he said...oh well, I'm sure you all can guess the crap that came out of his mouth. Let me digress for a moment to illustrate how much of an oversight this is. Coke makes very little money in the US. Its big bucks come from huge markups in foreign markets. Foreign economies go bad? Coke prices go to hell as evidenced by Cokes troubles during the Asian flu about two years ago. In any event, I gave him my best five minute GI drill. I swear the following statement came out of his mouth: "What the hell do I do with my own 401K money?" After pointing out the absurdity of his statement, I proceed to ask him why, if he can hear ring-of-truth in what I say, did I have to tell him? His answer? "I really don't know." I have talked to a bunch of big-brained/wealthy Wall St. types who cannot even hold up a reasonable conversation and have come to a simple conclusion: Wall St. doesn't get it. Period. However, they will soon.

-- Dave (aaa@aaa.com), December 06, 1999.

PS--Does anybody remember that Credit Suisse analyst (I think his name was Mayo) who put a "sell" recommendation on the four largest banks in the world (Citigroup, J.P.Morgan, Wells Fargo(?), and one I'm missing right now)? His reason was that, "While they may be a safe place to keep your money next year, defaulting foreign loans make them a very bad investment." The market slumped on his report (for only one day of course.) Did I mention that Wall St. doesn't get it?

-- Dave (aaa@aaa.com), December 06, 1999.

In the coke machines, do those little digital systems that keep track of the money use a real-time clock? If so, that is an awful lot of coke machines to fix!

-- Hawk (flyin@high.again), December 06, 1999.


Dave:

Want mayo with this...:)

From The Globe & Mail, Toronto:

'Shocking' warning rattles bank stocks

Brian Milner
New York Bureau
Tuesday, May 25, 1999

It's so unusual for a Wall Street analyst to recommend selling any big-name stock that it always makes news and affects the market. But when a respected veteran at a major investment bank tells clients to shed four of the five biggest companies he tracks, words like "unprecedented" and "shocking" come to mind.

Michael Mayo, senior bank analyst with Credit Suisse First Boston Corp. in New York, yesterday issued sell recommendations on four U.S. banking powerhouses -- Citigroup, Chase Manhattan Corp., J.P. Morgan & Co. and Banc One Corp. The market impact was immediate, as the share prices of all four plunged.

"The risks of owning bank stocks do not seem worth the returns," Mr. Mayo said flatly.

He is known as a bit of a maverick in Wall Street circles, but his analytical skills are regarded highly. So investors pay attention when he worries that Year 2000 computer woes will create "a risk of unknown magnitude" for banks.

Even if the major banks have resolved their own Y2K issues, they face dangers if their clients or smaller banks in emerging markets have computer glitches. And a series of seemingly minor problems can lead to serious earnings headaches, he said in a report to clients.

Mr. Mayo poses one intriguing possibility: The banks will use Y2K as an excuse to clean up troubled balance sheets.

"At a minimum, Y2K has the potential to become the biggest earnings scapegoat since onetime loan-loss charges at the start of the decade."

Mr. Mayo also warns of the dangers to bank profits posed by a slowing economy and says the banks cannot sustain current booming capital market revenues.

[remainder snipped]

[ENDS]

-- John Whitley (jwhitley@inforamp.net), December 06, 1999.


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