European Shorting
| New Threads Only: |  |  |  |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Threads & Replies: | | | |
|
Forum List » Value Ideas and Strategies Share and discuss value investing ideas and investing strategies.  
The Case for Shorting Green Mountain Coffee – Put in Perspective
Posted by: gurufocus
(IP Logged)
Date: October 21, 2011 06:43PM
David Einhorn announced last week that he is shorting the stock of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (GMCR). He presented a detailed presentation on why he is shorting the stock. The stock declined more than 20% this week even as market went higher. Einhorn certainly deserves to be followed with his shorts. His most recent publicized short was St. Joe (JOE), the controversial position he held against Bruce Berkowitz. With Bruce Berkowitz in dismal these days, St. Joe stock is moving favorably toward Einhorn. With this article we would like to put David Einhorn’s short thesis in the perspective of GuruFocus charts and features. We will display the positive and negative sides of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (GMCR). Breathtaking Revenue and Earnings Growth   Check out the charts in 10-year financial page, we see that the company’s revenue grew 34% a year over the past 10 years, and 55% a year over the past 5 years. In the meantime, earnings grew 26% a year over the past 10 years. Earnings per share grew 70% a year over the past 5 years. Declining Gross Margin  In the mean time, the gross margin has been in decline. Usually a decline in profit margin indicates that the business is facing price pressure, or it is become less efficient as it grows. In the case of Green Mountain, the cost of goods sold is growing faster than the revenue. The company is facing price increase of materials. But it cannot pass all of those to customers. Negative Free Cash Flow  As pointed by David Einhorn, even as the company grows at astonishing rate, it does not generate much free cash flow, as indicated in the chart above. This is also from the 10-year financial page. Issue New Shares Since the company does not generate enough free cash flow, to fuel its growth, the company has to raise more capital. Green Mountain raises capital by issuing new shares. As a result, the company’s number of shares outstanding continues to increase. See below (from 10-year financial page):  Historical High Valuations In the meantime, the company is sold at historical high P/E and P/S values (from 10-year valuation page), as indicated by the charts below.   Discussions As discussed many times by our readers, being overvalued itself is not an enough for stock prices to decline. But David Einhorn certainly has spotted a catalyst here, which is the expiration of the company’s patents. Sure the stock price has declined. But on the other hand, since so many investors are following David Einhorn, he himself might be the ultimate catalyst here.
Re The Case for Shorting Green Mountain Coffee Put in Perspective
Posted by: paulwitt
(IP Logged)
Date: October 22, 2011 01:35AM
There's something wrong with my computer. Every time I go to gurufocus this article pops up....... :)
Sorry, only registered users may post in this forum.
Please Login if you have an account or Create a Free Account if you don't |
Feedback
My Portfolios
Browse Gurus
RSS