Just like you never want to hear a doctor say "oops" in the operating room, you never want to see a going-concern statement in a financial report about a company you own. Accountants throw these in when they've been over the books, talked to customers, and checked the horoscopes and have concluded there is "substantial doubt" about a company's ability to remain in business. In short, don't blame the accountants if the company files for bankruptcy protection.

You¿d reckon that a going-concern statement would be enough to send investors running to the exits, but it's not. True, many large institutions automatically bail when an existing company gets slapped with one of these, but many individuals (often wrongly) take a chance they know more than the bean counters.

During the tech boom of the late 1990s, many companies actually went public even though they had been hit with going-concern statements. Many of those companies subsequently disappeared. Enough said.

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Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Starbucks Offers 5 New Breakfast Items

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Associated Press

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Coffee retailer Starbucks Corp. on Wednesday began offering five new breakfast items in a bid to offer more "nutritious" options for health-conscious customers.

The new breakfast items include oatmeal, a chewy fruit and nut bar, an apple bran muffin, a multigrain pastry called the Berry Stella, a multigrain roll and a protein plate featuring a hard-boiled egg, whole wheat bagel, peanut butter, cheese and fruit.

The Berry Stella pastry was first introduced in July.

Starbucks (SBUX) said the new items contain no artificial colors, flavors, sweeteners or high fructose corn syrup.

The retailer has been trying to energize its sales as traffic declines and consumers, pressed by high gas prices and the weak housing market, cut back on discretionary spending.