This week, we spoke with Mark  F. Travis, CIO and Senior Porfolio Manager at Intrepid Capital Management. He gave us a look at some of the companies they invest in. The following is accurate as of 9/10/07:

1. Alberto-Culver (AV): “They had the unusual experience late last fall of sitting on a $25 per share special dividend, and then they spun off a company called Sally Beauty Products. Probably the most famous brand in their stable is Alberto VO5.”
2. Hanesbrands (HBI): “[After their spin off from Sara Lee] management is probably more focused and excited to run their particular business line out from u nder a big corporate umbrella…”
3. Jackson Hewitt (JTX): “If you’ve been in a Wal-Mart, they’ve got some little kiosks set up to help people file tax returns. They’ve had some reporting issues, but I think they’ve resolved those, and it’s given us an opportunity to invest.”
4. Tellabs (TLAB): “Tellabs  has always had a very clean balance sheet with good cash generation and we think that’s an opportunity.”
5. Connecticut Water Service (CTWS) “They’ve gotten a rate increase; they pay a nice dividend and have, I believe, since the 1950s.”

 For the full interview with Mr. Travis, including more information on how and why Mr. Travis and Intrepid pick stocks, click here.

In our continuing coverage of the Biotechnology sector this week, analyst Liisa Bayko shares her thoughts on the market for products that help with female sexual dysfunction: 

• Close to 40% of women are afflicted with some degree of sexual dysfunction.
• As yet, there is no product on the market for female sexual dysfunction.
• Proctor & Gamble (PG) have had their product for female sexual Dysfunction, Intrinsia, approved in Europe. This same product was denied by the FDA.
• It remains to be seen whether or not the FDA feels that the female sexual dysfunction is something that needs to be treated pharmacologically, or if it is something they deem more in the psychosocial realm.
• To the Ms. Bayko, and the people at Next Generation Equity Research, are excited by this area, but warn investors that it is high risk/high reward.

For the full interview with Ms. Bayko, click here.

Great Companies, Inc. is an investment management firm based in Tampa, Florida, that focuses on only investing in “great companies.” Charles Carnevale, co-founder and co-ceo, talks about what exactly that means:

Mr. Carnevale: We endeavor to own great companies, which we define as companies that generate above average, superior, consistent long-term operating results, far in excess of the average company. We seek a target rate of return objective of 15% to 20% growth, which great companies have historically achieved.

For the full interview with Mr. Carnevale, concerning his full investment strategy and stock picks, click here.

Analyst Heather L. Jones, of BB&T Capital Management, speaks about the state of Agricultural Business at present 

TWST: At this point in the year, how has business been in the agricultural segment?

Ms. Jones: Robust to say the least.

TWST: Is it because of ethanol?

Ms. Jones: Ethanol has definitely contributed to the robust demand and has drawn much public attention, but there are a number of issues that have contributed. Ethanol clearly drove higher corn demand, which resulted in more acreage being planted in corn this year. Those acres were taken from primarily soybeans, but also cotton, peanuts, etc., resulting in higher prices for those commodities. Although soybeans were in an oversupply situation, sharply reduced acreage has significantly tightened supply, resulting in much higher prices. Wheat has suffered from two very poor growing years. Stocks-to-use is at historic lows on a worldwide basis.

The US growing season was better than last year, but was still subpar. Consequently, wheat prices have soared. However, even with wheat ranging from $8 to $9 a bushel, there hasn’t been any indication of demand rationing. Export volumes are still very strong, which I believe is attributable to inelastic demand.

Going into the planting season, I believe there will be, for lack of a better word, a fight for acreage. Specifically, because of new ethanol capacity coming on next year, more corn acreage is needed, but soybeans need more acreage as well. Further, given current prices, farmers are very likely to plant more wheat.

 For the full article with Heather Jones, featuring her full take on the current Agribusiness climate, click here.

In our coverage of biotechnology this week, analyst Liisa Bayko talks about  her concerns in the Biotechnology Sector:

 TWST: Are there any names that worry you?

Ms. Bayko: I think Dendreon is a little bit of a worry because it’s so volatile.It’s trading up now, and I have a sell rating on it. They are in the prostate cancer space. Their ongoing trial is called IMPACT, and we are going to have the data from that the middle of the next year. I worry if that’s going to be positive. They are putting so much into making that positive, that’s my concern. If it’s not positive, then what?

For our full coverage of the Biotech sector, featuring interviews with CEOs from 20 different companies, click here.

As the consumer trends away from high-carb sodas like regular Coke and Pepsi, there is a question as to where the focus of their energies will land. Analyst Lauren Torres discusses.

TWST: In the non-carbs, is there a hot product or category?

Ms. Torres: Yes, it’s a combination of a couple of different categories. If you are looking at, for instance, bottled water, last year that category grew 16.5%, sports drinks were up about 12%, and teas also did very well. So I’d probably highlight those three categories as having the best growth and where we expect to continue to see growth.

For more from Lauren Torres, click here.  

For more from our beverages issue, click here.

This week we present five companies  in the portfolio of Brazos Capital Mangement, as of 9/11/07

1.  Crocs (CROX): “[They] make funny little plastic shoes that seem to be selling faster than they can manufacture them.”
2. Intuitive Surgical (ISRG): “In the healthcare space.  [They are] really a computerized system for doing minimally invasive surgery.”
3. Precision Castparts (PCP): “A supplier of subsystem to the military and commercial aerospace.”
4. National Oilwell Varco (NOV): “In the energy space. National Oilwell Varco is 2.2[% of our holdings in our Portfolio]”
5. NVIDIA (NVDA): “NVIDIA is the leader in graphics processor units…They continue to dominate the discrete graphics space in a market that continues to grow.”

For our full Investing Strategies Report, including stock picks and stocks to avoid, click here.

Michael Mueller,  Executive Director and Senior Analyst in Equity research of J.P. Morgan Securities Inc., continues our discussion of REITS with his perspective on the current state of REITS:

TWST: This is the first time in several years that the REITs group has not outperformed the market. What’s going on?

Mr. Mueller: A lot of it has come from pressure due to non-dedicated investors essentially rotating out of this space. I think we have a group of folks who have, over the past few years, not necessarily liked the valuation levels of the REIT space. I think they would have preferred to be elsewhere but didn’t really have a trigger to rotate out of this space given the momentum and larger benchmark weightings. I think what happened at the beginning of the year is there was a lot of confidence in the broader markets and people saw higher growth rates picking up outside of the REIT space. They just thought they could make more money elsewhere in the market. That was the trigger to actually start rotating out of this space.

For our full report on REITS, including several industry analysts and CEO interviews, click here.

In our coverage of the Beverage Sector this week, analyst Alton Stump, of Longbow Research, tells us his pick for alternative beverages:

 Mr. Stump: Right now our top pick is Hansen Natural. Along with continued 40% type of category growth in US energy drinks, Hansen could benefit from a few emerging growth drivers, including rate price increases, on-premise Monster sales with Anheuser-Busch (BUD) and pending penetration into Europe. They are the best pure play in alternative beverages in our opinion.
 

For the complete interview with Mr. Stump, click here.

With financing markets tightening, one questions that arises is whether or not construction projects still in development will be completed, or whether those projects will be put on hold. One of analysts speaks this week about this situation with regard to hotels:

 Mr. Loeb: To drill down to hotels, the industry is still seeing a fairly high degree of development activity. Some of that activity is early-stage development, not yet breaking ground. Some of those projects that are in development but haven’t yet begun construction won’t be financed; invariably loose financing markets create a lot of development financing, and tighter financing markets make it much harder to get development financing. So I think we’re going to hear about more and more projects that are in the development pipeline being put on hold, but others that have started construction will continue to be built because they were already financed or already under construction. We will see those hotels open.

For more from our REITS issue, click here