Friday, August 04, 2006

Calls of Note Part 2

- Goldman Sachs is positive on Hansen (NASDAQ:HANS) saying they would advise investors to take advantage of weakness in the shares Thursday, August 3 heading into next Monday's second-quarter report, August 7. Hansen appears poised to deliver sales upsides driven by estimated 125% growth for its energy drink division. Firm also believes the consensus is underestimating gross margins, as they anticipate sequential improvement owing to the seasonality of the high-margin energy drink division relative to the lower-margin warehouse division.

There are two near-term issues that might emerge on the tele-conference, in firm's view, for which investors should be prepared. First, the transition to Bud wholesalers may cause some noise in sales. It is possible that shipments lag depletions as phased-out distributors sell off their inventory. Second, the pace of distribution gains could slow in advance of the transition. Per-outlet sales growth remains strong, but total sales growth could slow owing to less rapid increases in availability (the firm has already worked this into their forecast). In the unlikely (but possible) event that this noise impacts the second quarter or second half, they would step in aggressively. Neither of these possibilities should have any bearing on long-term earnings power as the Bud distributors should deliver substantial distribution gains starting next year.

Firm maintains their Buy rating and $62.50 noting their 2007 EPS estimate of $2.06 is about $0.60 above the consensus average.

Notablecalls: The note is causing some buy interest in the pre mkt but ultimately I don't think it's that meaningful.

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