Whole Foods stock takes a pounding

[ButterflyBlood]

http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=WFMI

[cbdo2007]

1. All stocks are taking a pounding today professor.

[ButterflyBlood]

2. Yes, but Whole Foods is doing worse

It's dropped 3.43%, while the Dow has lost 1.84%.

[cbdo2007]

6. oh good god....thanks for the reminder

NOT to argue anything finance or economics related on DU.

[karynnj]

12. Also click on "5d" below the chart,

This shows the impact better. (In addition, right now investors are reacting to potential loss of customers. If it really happened, those results will not be out for a while.)

[cbdo2007]

15. There is no "impact" nor is there any "reaction" - even at 5 days it's more or less following

the trend of the market as a whole, with hundreds of other companies showing the exact same 5 day losses they've got.

[karynnj]

16. You misuderstand what I wrote

What I wrote is that until WF's numbers come out, we do not know the impact on their sales. IF a large number of customers, seek other stores, it will cause their revenue and profits to be down, that will get a reaction in the market. I do not claim to know if that actually happened. My point was that there could be some reaction due to the threat of a boycott. The fact is that you do not know if there was.

Any negative news can have an impact, though it will usually be hard to see given the noise in the market.

[kirby]

4. Not true....

Look at any of the health care industry stocks.

http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=UNH
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=CI
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=AET

[cbdo2007]

5. Wow and only up 32% in the past month. - psft!! Sucks to be them!!!

[ButterflyBlood]

7. The entire market had a rally then

Now it's dropping, but Whole Foods is getting the worst of it.

[onenote]

17. and whole foods overperformed the market then, which is why it is udnergoing a correction now

The market is reacting as much to the overvaluation in WF's stock earlier in the month (when its stock price shot up by nearly four dollars a share in just a couple of days. The drop back to around $27 (still almost $6 higher than it was a month ago) is more of a correction than some great indicator that Mr. Mackey's op-ed is causing the stock to tank.

[lapfog_1]

3. I was suggesting last week that people sell it short.

I would if I had my market account still.

It's going down... maybe 10%. The CEO could lose the support of the BOD over this.

[tosh]

8. Indeed he could...

and probably should. :evilgrin:

[cbdo2007]

9. I agree...seeing as how the poster knows nothing about the market...

I would loooooove to see them sell this stock short.

*prays really really hard*

[Capn Sunshine]

18. have some info the rest of us lack?

because only an idiot stands in front of a speeding train. You really think WFMI is gonna whether a storm of this magnitude (pissing off their core demo)and not take a hit? I think there's three and a half lying on the table.

ps I worked here for three years

[cbdo2007]

20. "a storm of this magnitude" - overreact much?

Really the majority of people have better things to do than boycot a store because the owner has a different idea regarding Health Care reform than they do.

Now if he came out and said he hated gay people or blacks or that he admires Osama Bin Ladin, fine the stock may take a hit...but this "storm" is going to "blow over" rather quickly and nobody but you is gonna remember it.

Guys with no jobs who sit at home watching the news all day MAY trade stocks based on news stories but like another poster said, IF there is any impact (which I highly doubt) we won't see it for months on down the road. Then again, if their numbers improve the stock is likely to go up regardless of the CEO spouting off about some non-issue.

[quiet.american]

19. Actually, on a technical basis, this does look like a good setup to short.

A quick glance tells me even if I would ever touch this stock, which I wouldn't, there's no way I would go long with this chart; today, out of a Stage 3 consolidation, it finally broke support at about 27.50 -- not a good sign for bulls. A 2YR Weekly Chart w/Bollinger Band indicator shows failed upper band breakout momentum,as well as downward turn of upper Bollinger Band, and this week's candle is a bearish followup to last week's doji. Bearish indications appear in daily, weekly, 2-yr and 10-yr time frames. RSI(7) has also turned bearish. Parabolic SAR is still bearish.

However, maybe it could bounce around 25.70 - 26.00 and retrace back up to about 30.00, failing that, there could also be a typical two-day retracement, followed by a strong selloff, or another consolidation from which it will most likely plummet like a piano from a third floor window.

In shorting it, I would wait for it to break below 23.60 or so to get in.

But as a long, there's no way I would get into this thing now.


Disclaimer: Of course, I could be wrong.

[Joanne98]

10. Motley Fool: Is This Whole Foods’ Last Straw?

Whole Foods Market’s (Nasdaq: WFMI) founder and CEO John Mackey is no stranger to controversy. But earlier this week he took a stand on the health-care debate that may make a lot of the organic grocer’s coveted customers choke on their pesticide-free produce.

Thanks a lot, dude!
Mackey has always been outspoken in his views, even if his customers might disagree. For example, given Whole Foods' generally left-leaning clientele, his comparison of unions to herpes many years ago was perhaps a touch incendiary.

And no one can forget the Rahodeb scandal. Mackey's eight years of anonymously defending his store (and his haircut) on the Yahoo! Finance discussion boards didn’t go over too well with the public, much less federal regulators. (I believed it was rotten behavior. My Foolish colleague Rick Munarriz thought it wasn’t the big deal people thought it was. And another longtime Fool, Bill Mann, argued that people should lighten up -- of course the guy has an ego.)

Now, Mackey has published an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal outlining his suggestions for the ongoing health-care reform debate, with a focus on individual empowerment. Some of those who oppose his ideas, or simply favor the policies proposed by the Obama administration, are now calling for a good old-fashioned boycott. (Then again, those impressed by Mackey's views might be more inclined to visit the store now.) Significantly, the type of customers Whole Foods has traditionally targeted are more likely to passionately support the kind of public, universal health coverage Mackey's op-ed argues against.

Given the problems this stance could pose for the company, I'm sure many Whole Foods shareholders are ever so grateful that Mackey felt the need to speak up.
http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2009/08/14/is-this-whole-foods-last-straw.aspx

[loudsue]

11. Say goodnight, John.

It's boycott time.

[Javaman]

13. What wasn't reported was that here in Austin there were protests out in from of their store

in downtown. It's their "flagship" store.

wacky mackey as he's called here in Austin, might have finally bit off more than he can chew.

he's a massive libertarian tool. Need I say more?

There have been anti-union info being passed around to store employees recently and how to handle them.

All sorts of misinformation. A little birdy told me.

mackey is a selfish prick, plain and simple.

[Cetacea]

14. k&R n/t