FTD's Stock

[ROBSWF]

It looks like someone tied an anchor to FTD’s stock!! It has been wilting down all day today & yesterday. Not sure how they’ll try to raise money again, I guess they’ll add more fees to members.

Rob

 

[BOSS]

Keep in mind, that the "Insiders" bought millions of shares at as little as $1.00 per share...and even if they sell at $12.00 today...well....

Some made as much as $6,000,000.00 the day it went public...

 

[ROBSWF]

Stock is falling

Well FTD's stock fell to their lowest point at the close of business last week to $11.80.

I guess it is time for them to get aggressive if they want to hold onto their jobs. Woner what they are planning next. Does not look to me like Walmart helped them out at all. Only caused damage.

Guess it's getting closer for FTD to buy or kill more competition.

 

[CHR]

Actually, the stock has gone as low as $11.30.

This article about how the Green Group profited mightily from the IPO - while saddling the company with debt - can't have helped their stock.

In February 2004, Leonard Green & Partners LP orchestrated a $422 million buyout of FTD, and took the company public a year later. Almost all the $200 million that the flower delivery company received for the IPO went toward buying out the preferred shares from Green as well as paying for the termination of its management services agreement. Those proceeds largely equaled Green's initial investment of $181 million, and Green still owns about 53 percent of FTD's outstanding shares, at a current value of about $190 million.

While the buyout firm generally are garnering huge profits with such deals, strong performance from the stock isn't a sure thing. FTD shares, for instance, are trading around $12.50 each, down from the $13 offer price.

I'm curious to hear how they spin the Q3 numbers. Haven't seen any announcement yet about their conference call but it's usually during Secretaries' Week.

The purchase of florist.com plus the partnering with Wal-mart should help show increased sales. Will be interesting to see the impact of losing Urban/Artisan plus their (and other OG) bad debt will effect the overall performance and stock price.

Don't forget that the advertising expenditures for V-Day were at an all-time high. Believe I also read that the average sale was in the unimpressive $50 range or so.

At least the money from the last shareholder lawsuit has finally been released. Since they burned the last set of cheerleaders, few have been seen lately.

 

[Griff]

I'm not too sure anyone should use the stock market as a place to review a companies success or failure. For example, the largest corporation in the world, Walmart, has had their stock dip to it's lowest value in 10 years at below $12 a share. Yet everyone still says that walmart's profits have held steady. K-mart who only claimed bankruptcy about 2 years ago and whose stock was valued at about $12 at that time is now valued at well over a $100 a share even before they bought Sears. Does this all make sense to anyone. This doesn't seem to be about the value of the company, but rather the degree that the investor can make money on the buying and selling of the stock.

By the way, if you were investing in the market today, which stock would YOU want to have, K-mart, Walmart or FTD?

 

[Dazeal]

Nice post CHR, thanks for the education.

Griff had posted about filling centers and I have been thinking about that a lot lately. How these centers relate to failing WS in 5-10 years.

Right now I could open, very inexpensivly one of these filling centers in a large town like LA for example. It could be cheap rent and in the warehouse district. Sign up with bloomlink, proflowers, all the OGs, etc. And fill orders all day long. That's a sad thing to think about, but business is business and I'm sure this is happening right now. So as a florist in LA, do you jump to this or wait for a person who has never done flowers do this out of their garage? Ahh the ethics of business vs those we hold as a florist.

I'm sure FTD will be sold off again and again and move further from their original misson statement almost 100 years ago. "For the florists" Now it's "For my 2nd home in Cancun".

 

[flowerknife+us]

Ftds stock will probably go back up as the hype of Mothers day sets in. then fall again over the summer.


Time for a new selection guide, Gotta keep the images up to date for the consumer!

 

[CHR]

New Low Reached

It may head up, but today's close was at $ 11.25. http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=FTD&t=3m

The market did have a bad day overall, however.

FTD, Inc. Earnings Conference Call (Q3 2005) is scheduled to start Tue, Apr 26, 2005, 10:00 am Eastern.

 

[Joe Mioux]

Actually, the stock has gone as low as $11.30.

This article about how the Green Group profited mightily from the IPO - while saddling the company with debt - can't have helped their stock. I'm curious to hear how they spin the Q3 numbers. Haven't seen any announcement yet about their conference call but it's usually during Secretaries' Week.

The purchase of florist.com plus the partnering with Wal-mart should help show increased sales. Will be interesting to see the impact of losing Urban/Artisan plus their (and other OG) bad debt will effect the overall performance and stock price.

Don't forget that the advertising expenditures for V-Day were at an all-time high. Believe I also read that the average sale was in the unimpressive $50 range or so.

At least the money from the last shareholder lawsuit has finally been released. Since they burned the last set of cheerleaders, few have been seen lately.

I used to be a commodities broker. If you want to talk about risk taking, it is in the commodities market. I have had my share of bad trades and I don't need anymore.

After reading CHR's post regarding FTD, why would anyone want to take a long term investment strategy wtih FTD.

If a person has some extra money and some very cheap commission rates, there might be some short term plays, but it will be risky!

 

[evergreen12377]

My thoughts on those LFC is that they will grow in numbers and some florists will go in that direction. Money and all. That means that the local florist will get fewer and perhaps no incoming wires (which do not pay, anyway). Therefore, if you do not plan to have one of those LFC and plan to stay as a local florist, you have to grow your local business. You have to think out of the WS box to survive.

Judy

 

[CHR]

FTD Q3 Report Spin Time

FTD Group Posts 3Q Loss on IPO Expenses

FTD Group Inc. on Tuesday reported a third-quarter loss, primarily due to expenses from its initial public offering earlier this year.
The provider of floral-related products posted a quarterly loss of $25.6 million, or $1.14 per share, compared with a loss of about $12 million for the Jan. 1 to Feb. 23 year-ago period, and a loss of $2.6 million, or 20 cents per share in the period from Feb. 24 to March 31 last year.

FTD Group, Inc. Reports 18% Revenue Increase for the Third Quarter of Fiscal Year 2005 Compared to the Prior Fiscal Year's Third Quarter

Gift orders comprised 27.6% of total orders for the third quarter compared to 25.8% of total orders for the third quarter of fiscal year 2004.

More than one of of every four orders wasn't for flowers.

"The strength of the Consumer Business continues to be driven by the migration of consumers to the Internet, focused customer acquisition and retention initiatives, the expansion of the 'Value Priced' flower program and strong growth in specialty gifts.

Um, that's the direct-ship products.

This increase in operating income is due in part to the benefit due to the timing of certain FTD member events which occurred in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2005 versus the third quarter of fiscal year 2004. FTD florist membership remained stable at 20,300 members as of March 31, 2005.

Not sure what the 'events' are but that means the expenses will show up in the next quarter's results.

"Our unique and synergistic business model continues to demonstrate its strength as the growth in our Consumer Business order volume continues to drive increases in our Florist Business."

Someone should have given Soenen a copy of this. :>:

 

[CHR]

FTD stock hits new low

Just for the record, the stock closed today at $10.84. That's a more than 20% downward slide from the IPO opening day high.

With the costly marketing competition between 1800, ProFlowers, TF and other gift providers, it looks like none of the publicly traded companies are fairing well.

 

[BOSS]

it looks like none of the publicly traded companies are fairing well.

Could part of it be that the "unrest" of the REAL Florists is making it's way to Wall Street....

I'm sorry :fdevil: