Category Archives: Anatomy

By Steve Van Tiem - April 30, 2012 | Tickers: CMP, GLW, SRCL | 0 Comments

Steve is a member of The Motley Fool Blog Network -- entries represent the personal opinions of our bloggers and are not formally edited.

There were three companies whose earnings conference calls last week promised to address three very different sets of circumstances. Stericycle (NASDAQ: SRCL) was having its first call after naming a CEO-elect in January. At Corning Inc. (NYSE: GLW), the weak global economy has caused a severe drop off in demand, which has hurt profitability and share price the past four quarters. And Compass Minerals (NYSE: CMP) has had to cope with three extreme weather events which, incredibly, all occurred within the past year.

As I listened to these calls, I paid attention to the tone of management (using a scale from extremely cautious to cautious, neutral, positive, and extremely positive), their candor in the question & answer session (using a scale from "not candid" to "uncertain candor", "candid",and "fully candid"), and information gleaned from answers to certain questions about revenue, cash flow drivers, and market conditions. I was also tracking updates to certain metrics, any substantive announcements made during the call, and of course earnings and sales guidance. Before listening to these calls I reviewed the previous call for each company to generate my set of expectations, metrics, and specific questions or issues to monitor.

With Stericycle's CFO, COO, and CEO-elect making brief statements in turn, the opening statements were more quantitative than qualitative, but overall the call was positive in tone. My belief is that management limits their comments so as not to produce artificially high investor expectations. I estimate that there were eight significant, open-ended questions from analysts that were adversarial or probing in nature. Of these eight, three were answered satisfactorily, four were not answered directly, and one was answered satisfactorily but indirectly. My impression is that management is satisfactorily candid with their communication but could improve to the preferred "fully candid" level with more direct answers. There were few, if any, company or industry specific metrics discussed and no substantive announcements.

I am satisfied that management answered all relevant questions and addressed all important business areas but I wanted to hear more from CEO-elect Charlie Alutto, whose only participation was his opening statement concerning guidance. Management guided EPS in the range of $3.24 to $3.28 for full year 2012 and revenue in the range of $1.85 billion to $1.9 billion for the year. This is a raise from EPS of $3.21 to $3.26 and revenue of $1.8 billion to $1.9 billion given as guidance last quarter. I rate this call a solid B and more importantly am confident in management's capability to guide the company forward. Investors bid the share price up from $87.10 before the call to $87.64 by week's end.

Of the three calls I listened to, Corning's was most likely to generate analyst skepticism because of continued economic weakness and share underperformance. As expected, there was a greater number and higher percentage of questions that I consider adversarial and these were much more pointed than either Stericycle's or Compass Mineral's questions. Fifteen of the questions were confrontational or accusatory with management satisfactorily answering ten of these, either directly or indirectly. The remaining five were not answered to my satisfaction so my conclusion is that management falls into my "candid" category. Corning did present a fair number of metrics, most importantly the Q4 supply chain inventory metric for the Display segment, which was essentially flat at 15.2 weeks. The company provided an informative summary of the recent acquisition of the Discovery Labware business from Becton Dickinson including reasons for the transaction and expectations going forward.

Unfortunately, Corning provided guidance for only limited information, by segment, for Q2 2012 rather than earnings and revenue guidance for Q2 2012 or an update for full year 2012. This call earns a B because I am satisfied that no important business areas were neglected and all relevant questions were addressed to an acceptable degree. The market reaction was very positive to this quarter's results and investors bid the share price up from $13.35 before the announcement and subsequent call to $14.45 by week's end.

Compass Minerals, whose primary businesses are de-icing salt and sulfate of potash production, was expected to report weak results due to a tornado that did significant damage to its primary salt mine, the warmest winter period on record and an unusually wet period in the Southwest, all within the past year. The reported results were essentially in line with these lowered expectations but management assumed a fairly positive tone centered on the notion that each of these weather events is exceedingly unlikely to recur in the foreseeable future, thus recent capacity additions and acquisitions should lead to increased growth.

Compass' management provided direct and satisfactory answers to three of the six important questions that were either adversarial or probing. The other three questions were answered in a satisfactory but indirect manner. Like Stericycle and Corning, I consider the responses of Compass' management as acceptably candid, just below "fully candid". Where I am disappointed in the call is the lack of explicit earnings or revenue guidance. These were given in relevant terms like "more", "less", "higher" and "lower" but specific figures were not given.

Read more from the original source:
Anatomy of the Conference Call

Skinny Sunrise, 2000  Polystyrene, wood, wood glue, dust, spray adhesive, flour, acrylic paint, silicone, screws, fabric

Violent Cappuccino, 2007 Cast aluminum, lacquer, motor oil, glue, dust

Untitled, 2001  Wax, pigment, wick, brick, metal rod

Urs Fischer is a Swiss contemporary artist living and working in New York.  Known for creating pieces of work out of unusual mediums, like loaves of sourdough bread, and for his enormous installations.

If you happen to be in or around Vienna, Urs Fischer has a show titled “Skinny Sunrise” at KUNSTHALLE.  Curated by Gerald Matt and Angela Stief.   February 17th – May 28th, 2012.

[spotted by Manuel Kolb]

Source:
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“E Cosi Desio Me Mena,” the title for this beautiful ring by DIGBY + IONA, comes from the Italian ‘And So Desire Carries Me Along’, a quote from Petrarch’s 1342 work, Canzoniere. The heart signet comes with sealing wax! Nice touch. This would be a brilliant way to leave a calling card for yourself, or perhaps to seal up a nice love note to someone. I love that the ring can be engraved with two initials, for an extra personal touch.  The detail on the heart reminds me of old Italian engravings, which is fitting.

Available at Catbird!

[spotted by Joan]

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Available for $10 at the Street Anatomy store! [SOLD OUT]

Limited edition mini Organ Donor key chains by New York City based artist David Foox, creator of the original Organ Donor Vinyl toys. I must say, these little guys are extremely cute in person!

• 2″ tall figures
• 2″ lanyard with metal clasp included
• Organ heads available in brain, eyeball, kidney, lungs, heart, and stomach
• Clear clamshell packaging
• Available for $10 at the Street Anatomy store [SOLD OUT]

If you would like to order a specific organ, please tell us the organ that you would like in the notes section when ordering. If no organ is specified, we will choose one for you!  And you will love him.

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For those of you in and about Chicago, I would love to see you this Thursday, May 3, at The Chicago Cultural Center where I will be giving a lecture entitled "A Journey into the Curious World of the Medical Museum" as part of a series of events supplementing the amazing looking  Morbid Curiosity exhibition. The images above--drawn from my exhibitions The Secret Museum and Anatomical Theatre--constitute a tiny sampling of the many images I will be showing in the presentation.

Full details follow; very much hope very much to see you there.

You can find out more by clicking here.

Images top to bottom, as drawn from my recent photo exhibitions The Secret Museum and Anatomical Theatre:

1. "Anatomical Venus" Wax wodel with human hair and pearls in rosewood and Venetian glass case, "La Specola" (Museo di Storia Naturale), Florence, Italy, Probably modeled by Clemente Susini (around 1790)
2. "Slashed Beauty" Wax wodel with human hair and pearls in rosewood and Venetian glass case, "La Specola" (Museo di Storia Naturale), Florence, Italy, Probably modeled by Clemente Susini (around 1790)
3. "Anatomical Venuses," Wax Models with human hair in rosewood and Venetian glass cases,The Josephinum, Workshop of Clemente Susini of Florence circa 1780s, Vienna, Austria
4. The Mütter Museum : Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Pathological model; 19th Century?
5. Wax Model of Eye Surgery, Musée Orfila, Paris. Courtesy Université Paris Descartes
6. Wax Anatomical Models in Rosewood and Venetian Glass Boxes, The Josephinum, Workshop of Clemente Susini of Florence circa 1780s, Vienna, Austria
7. Wax moulages; Probably by Carl Henning (1860-1917) or Theodor Henning (1897-1946); Early 20th Century; Federal Pathologic-Anatomical Museum (Pathologisch-anatomisches Bundesmuseum): Vienna, Austria, Austria
8. Plaster Models in Pathological Cabinet, The Museum of the Faculty of Medicine at the Jagiellonian University, Krakow
9. Skeleton and hand models for "la médecine opératoire" Musée Orfila, Paris. Courtesy Université Paris Descartes

Source:
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I am very excited about Monday's upcoming organization for creatives class with journalist Oliver Burkeman, of London's Guardian. There are a few slots still left... if you are interested, please RSVP to morbidanatomy [at] gmail.com. Hope to see you there!

Organizational workshop for creative types with Oliver Burkeman of The Guardian
Date: Monday, April 30th
Time: 7:30-9:30 PM
Admission: $20
*** Limited class size; Must RSVP to morbidanatomy [at] gmail.com to be added to class list
This class is part of The Morbid Anatomy Art Academy

Do you hunger to climb the corporate ladder with ruthless efficiency, leaving your rivals in the dust as you pursue your relentless quest for wealth and power? Hopefully not, but that doesn't mean you can't borrow some tactics from such people and apply them to your own ends; to that end, today's class--taught by Oliver Burkeman, compulsive to-do-list-maker and journalist for London's Guardian--will teach creatives, freelancers, and artists how to plan and manage multiple projects, better plan their time, and, in general, feel less overwhelmed by juggling a variety of projects at one time.

Burkemanhas spent much of the last few years researching and reporting on self-help culture, including the fascinating history of the "how to succeed" publishing genre, and motivational gurus from Dale Carnegie to Stephen Covey, and sifting the wheat from the chaff. (There's a lot of chaff.) Drawing on this research, this workshop will explore some fundamental principles of getting organized, managing multiple projects, overcoming procrastination, time management, and being both more productive and less stressed in the kinds of sprawling artistic/creative/freelance lives that don't get much attention in The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. No cringe-inducing motivational speeches will be given; no Magic Systems for Instant Success will be promoted. Instead, we'll plunder from the world of the grinning gurus the bits that actually work – so that you'll leave equipped with a toolkit of immediately useable ways to do the stuff you're already doing, and the projects you're planning, with greater efficiency and ease.
The class will begin with an illustrated lecture and conclude with a workshop segment where students will be guided in an application of the principles; participants are encouraged to come to class with a project to organize.

Oliver Burkemanin a writer based in Brooklyn with an unhealthy interest in filing systems. He writes features and a weekly column on psychology for the (London) Guardian. His book The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking will be published by Faber & Faber in the fall.

More here.

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