April 2007 Archives

Motley Fool contributor Rich Smith writes about how the local strike affected Harley (NYSE ticker: HOG) and him.

Read his column.

Also, here's a tidbit from Barron's that suggests the company's stock is lackluster.

Is it time to stop worrying?

The Dow Jones industrial average shot past 13,000 for the first time today, powered by signs that the U.S. economy and corporate profits are growing at a steady pace.

The Dow climbed to a new record as many of the country's biggest companies surpassed analysts' first-quarter earnings projections.

...as one more reason we women have to complain.

Turns out we make a whole lot less money than men, even when we're doing the same work. The gap starts early, the study found, with women making 80 percent of what men make just one year out of college.

Visit this site to see what your wage gap is. Yeah, yeah, it's a politician's site, but the methodology is right there and it seems to hold up to scrutiny. Interesting.

Dentsply (Nasdaq ticker:XRAY) is set to release its earnings next week.

Motley Fool already is talking. Read the "Foolish Forecast."

Craving more talk of margins and EPS?

At 11 o'clock tomorrow morning, Johnson Controls (the Milwaukee company that bought York International in 2005) will talk about its second-quarter earnings. That's right, second quarter -- not first quarter.

Click here to get to the Webcast.

For all you investing folks out there, Harley releases its first-quarter earnings at 9 tomorrow morning. There's sure to be information about how the strike here affected the Milwaukee company's bottom line.

You can listen to the conference call Harley execs have with financial analysts by clicking here.

Happy listening.

Also, check out what Motley Fool said about Harley's upcoming earnings release.

Walking through the front doors of Northeastern Senior High School, I didn't know what to expect. It's been more than 10 years since I last sat in a high school classroom. But this time, I was returing not as a student but as career presenter.

About a month ago, I volunteered to participate in the high school's Career Day event and speak about why I became a journalist. I had a great time. The questions students asked made sense, and I enjoyed offering insight into what goes on inside a newsroom. I have a better understanding of how young people view the media, especially as a career choice. I just wish my high school, back on Long Island, N.Y., would have held a similar event.

About three weeks ago, I walked into Comfort Home Mortgage in York Township to track down the reason behind the large number of local home foreclosures. Between 2005 and 2006, the foreclosure rate in York County jumped 112 percent. I had done my homework and had a good idea of what I would hear once I sat down with a lender.

About an hour later, when I left Comfort Home Mortgage, I was nervous. Not about my story, but about my mortgage. It seems that if one misses three mortgage payments, a bank may issue a notice of loan default and the house can fall into foreclosure. Many residents who couldn't afford their mortgage payments have had to endure the frustration and embarrassment of watching their American dream sold to highest bidder at the York County sheriff's sale.

Honestly, I had little to worry about.

Apparently it deters bank robbers.

I, for one, couldn't do it. I burst into tears when nervous.

Speaking of Wallstrip, the last entry got me thinking that many of you may not have caught the show's Jan. 31 segment on Dentsply.

Dentsply is based in York. It makes all sorts of stuff you see in the dentist's office: plaque scrapers, cavity fillers. The list goes on and on. The company has been the largest manufacturer of professional dental products in the world for more than 50 years.

In the 1940s, Dentsply was the first to use plastic in artificial teeth and in the next decade was the first to introduce air-driven hand pieces that replaced the wheel-and-pulley system.

Harley-Davidson stock is a subject of debate these days for Wall Street and investors alike. And the Milwaukee company famous for its cult brand did not escape analysis from Wallstrip. The Web-based show out of New York for small-time investors of the YouTube generation recently included HOG in its "Not So Fabulous Five Recap Show."

Here ya go:

Looking for another opinion?

Author Leslie Bennetts is raising hackles with her new book, "The Feminine Mistake," which examines the economic impact of women leaving their jobs to raise families.

Bennetts writes that women who choose to leave the career track often put themselves at an economic disadvantage. If their husbands die, become disabled or divorce them, these women -- many of whom are well-educated but with little experience -- struggle to make ends meet.

The Employee Benefits Research Institute released the results of its 17th annual Retirement Confidence Survey today, and well, it's not pretty.

We underestimate how much money we're going to need to retire and we overestimate how much we'll receive from pensions and other employer-based programs.

We also underestimate how long we're going to live. Check out the full results of the study here.

Yippee. What are we supposed to do about it? Most of us already feel stretched, and to learn that we're still not saving adequately is enough to make us throw up our hands in disgust.