It's not just food outfits on our site, we also have your favorite food characters. Anybody can be a king for Halloween, but you can be the Burger King. Dracula is nice and all, but every one would get a kick out of watching Count Chocula parading around a party. Or dress up as the yellow and red M&Ms with your best friend, and quote lines from all the M&M commercials, while people shout, They do exist
Some people like to scare others on Halloween, but you like to make them laugh. What's sillier than dressing up as your favorite food and dancing around? Make your family, friends, or perfect strangers crack up by wearing one of our, men's food costumes. If seeing someone dressed up as a giant taco or pineapple makes you start to giggles every time, no matter how many times you've seen it, then we have outfits for you. Who wouldn't think a person in a huge hot dog costume is funny? Unless they're standing outside a hot dog place, and then you just feel bad for them. But when it's voluntary, it's always a fun time
The Home Depot (NYS: HD) carries $1.1 billion of goodwill and other intangibles on its balance sheet. Sometimes goodwill, especially when it's excessive, can foreshadow problems down the road. Could this be the case with Home Depot?
In his fine book It's Earnings That Count, Hewitt Heiserman explains the AOL situation and how two simple metrics can help minimize your risk of owning a company that may blow up like this. Let's see how Home Depot holds up using his two metrics.
Home Depot appears to be in good shape in terms of the intangible assets ratio and tangible book value. You can never base an entire investment thesis on one or two metrics, but there are no yellow flags here. If any companies you're researching do fail one of these checks, make sure you understand the business model and management's objectives. I'll help you keep a close eye on these ratios over the next few quarters by updating them soon after each earnings report.
Keep up with Home Depot, including news and analysis as it's published, by adding the company to your free, personalized watchlist.
At the time this article was published Rex Moore owns none of the companies mentioned in this article. Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended buying shares of The Home Depot. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days.
Just last week, Intuitive Surgical saw its shares fall by around 7% when it announced that revenue and profits for the fourth quarter of 2013 were disappointing. Revenue fell by just over 5%, while earnings fell by 5% to $166.2 million - down from $174.9 million in 2012.
Furthermore, the company decided not to issue guidance for sales in 2014, which may have been a major reason for the aforementioned share-price fall. Investors, it seems, don't appreciate uncertainty, and a lack of sales forecasts by the company for 2014 highlights just how uncertain management is about the company's near-term prospects.
Of course, 2013 had been a highly challenging year for Intuitive Surgical, with sales of the company's key da Vinci surgical robots falling for the first time, partly because of customer concerns about the safety and cost-effectiveness of the product. In addition, lower-than-expected hospital spending hasn't helped the business to post a successful 2013, either.
The company seems to be uncertain as to how these issues could play out in 2014 (hence the lack of sales guidance), although it has said that it expects to sell fewer da Vinci robots in 2014 than it did in 2013.
While on the subject of guidance, sector peer St. Jude went in the opposite direction to Intuitive Surgical when it raised its fourth-quarter guidance recently. Indeed, it increased its own forecasts from a profit of $0.95 to $0.97 per share to a new range of $0.97 to $0.99 per share, as it benefited from an improving landscape and new product launches.
This boost comes at an opportune moment for the company, as previous quarters were tough and saw sales hurt by various safety concerns, restructuring costs and other costs, all of which held shares back during 2013. However, the raised guidance could improve sentiment, although judging by the slightly mooted response of the share price since guidance was raised, the market could be waiting for confirmation of a turnaround in future quarters before sentiment picks up considerably.
Meanwhile, the health-care equipment sector also started 2014 with a bang through Edwards Lifesciences . Its share price fell heavily after sector peer, Medtronic, had its CoreValve heart device approved by U.S. regulators earlier than expected. This news sent shares in Edwards Lifesciences tumbling by as much as 6%, as it was a direct competitior to its Sapien product, which is now expected to see its market share come under threat.
Edwards Lifesciences is set to give a fourth-quarter update to investors on Feb. 3, and shareholders will no doubt be keen to understand the potential implications of the Medtronic approval. It seems unlikely that the company will issue no guidance, as Intuitive Surgical did, with an upgrade, as in the case of St. Jude, being possible but not probable.
Of course, it should be pointed out that shares in Edwards Lifesciences are still up 4.5% in 2014, despite the news regarding Medtronic's early approval.
So while 2014 has proved to be uncertain for the stocks mentioned here, it has certainly kicked off with a bang and looks set to continue to be volatile over the short to medium term. It's certainly a great reason to tune in to health care for the rest of the year!
Fool contributor Peter Stephens has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends and owns shares of Intuitive Surgical. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools don't all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Ground testing has begun on the first conforming flight test aircraft, while a second HondaJet is in static structural testing— all necessary steps toward certification. A third aircraft to be used for certification is in production.
A number of systems tests, including avionics systems, are complete on the first flight test aircraft. Also, complete at suppliers’ facilities are tests of pumps, hydraulic and electrical components, drop tests of landing gear, and crew and cabin seat crash tests.
Assembly of the second conforming aircraft to be used for static structural stress testing was completed in July. Static structural stress tests of the entire aircraft have commenced and included 100 percent limit-load wing tests; 100 percent limit-load horizontal stabilizer tests; wing stiffness tests; landing gear load tests; pylon stiffness tests; and fuselage pressure tests.
GE Honda is building 20 engines under a 50-50 joint venture with Honda, 10 to be used for certification and 10 to be used for customer deliveries. The HF120 engine has been ground tested in special test facilities to 46,000 feet and Mach 0.85. The intent is to win FAA and EASA certification in 2011. Test cells have been installed in a plant at Burlington, N.C.
"In addition to the more than 500 flight hours we have accumulated on the proof of concept HondaJet, the successful completion of this robust range of static structural stress tests on the conforming aircraft significantly reinforces the advantages of the HondaJet's advanced design," said Michimasa Fujino, president and CEO of Honda Aircraft Company.
Honda is now focused on assembly of the third conforming aircraft to be used for flight testing of mechanical systems. The fuselage and empennage for this aircraft have been completed, while the wing assembly nears completion. Final assembly of this aircraft is scheduled to begin soon at Honda's research and development facility in Greensboro, N.C.
At this year's NBAA convention, Honda released HondaJet production cockpit and cabin designs featuring production parts, reflecting the quality of materials, colors, and finishes to be available in delivery aircraft. The HondaJet's cockpit design has been updated to reflect the maturity of Honda's human factors engineering efforts and flight test evaluations.
The 250,000-square-foot production facility in Greensboro is in the final phase of construction, with interior build-out well under way. The facility is scheduled for completion in May 2011, at which time pre-production preparations and training of production staff will begin. The HondaJet production facility will incorporate FlightSafety International Level D full-motion flight simulators for training of pilots and crew.