FSB 100 2008
What do you think of the companies on this year's FSB 100 list this year? Have you worked for any of these companies, or bought their products or services? Share your thoughts here. The best replies will be published here, and may appear in an upcoming issue of Fortune Small Business magazine.
From Michael Paterson, Los Angeles, CA Our online magazine has been dicked around by Cybersource since 2004. The support system they have has practically faded and it appears that we are just another number. Instead of providing hands-on service to make sure their customers are happy, they provide us with an irritable email support system that is inadequate. When we complained that we want to talk to someone when there is a problem they said our account does not qualify to get live support. HELLO? There is no direct help when you need it, and after cursing them for the umpteeth time (finally being able to lodge my complaints with that useless Trish Martin, VP Customer Support) they decided to lock our account – so all this week we have not been able to access our clients accounts to check problems associated with recurring subscriptions. They haven't helped our company at all, in fact, they have cost us a LOT of time and money. This week we will be changing to another payment gateway. DO NOT patronize Cybersource. You will regret that you did and you'll be inundated with problems. They need to realize that the customer comes first and that we have a choice whether to patronize their business… AND because they have ticked me off so much I am now spreading this news to everyone over the internet until I get an apology from them.
From Tom Hymes, Sherman Oaks, Calif. Shame on CNNMoney for leaving adult businesses out of the list… for ethical reasons! You are supposed to report the facts without inserting such a questionable level of bias into the results. Whether you like it or not, adult businesses are legal and add significantly to local, state and national economies. The fact that you are excluding them only proves the point! Let me also remind your readers that some of the largest corporations in the country make millions from adult entertainment. Are you going to exclude them when the big boy lists are compiled? I would wager not.
From jerry, pulteney ny PE, EPS growth. Readers would like to invest in some of these companies easily and it would be great if the current PE was part of the article.
From S. Ryan I recomend that perhaps you could do more fact checking.
The statement that the rust-belt furnace and auto tire lifts business
segments overshadowed and were financed by RTI segment profits in 1998 to
2001 is blatently false.
Firstly, Gorder became CEO and was solely responsible for Company 2001.
FACT: 1998 through 2000 Per annual reports segment reporting section, which
was "signed off" by auditors and filed with S.E.C. reflect profits of $5.5
million by heat tech[furnaces] and tire lifts[auto]segments combined, and
onlyprofits of $4.7million by RTI [precision miniaturemedical & electronic].
Yet in same 3 year period capital expenditures by heat & auto was only $2.0,
commpared to capital expenditures of $9.1 by RTI. [RTIprofit of $4.7 and
capx of $9.1 results in negative of $4.4 Heat & Auto profit of $5.5 and
capital expenditures of $2.0 results in a positive of $3.5 million.]
–For the eight years since RTI was acquired in 1993 by Selas Corp.
through 2000 the same segment reporting in annual reports reflect the
following:
RTI profit of $16.7 mill. compared to segment profits of Heat & Auto of
$21.7…capital expenditures for same period shows RTI capx of $18.2 and
heat &auto cap expenditures of $4.6 mill.
net negative for RTI of$1.5 [$16.7 minus $18.2]
net positive for Heat & Auto of $17.1 [$21.7minus $4.6]
Above profitability also refute that these rust- belt businesses were
"money-losers" as quoted.
Additionally RTI [Intricon] lost money from 2000 through 2004 not including
discontinued operations [rust-belt being divested] and only profitable in
2005,2006 & 2007, the last three years.
From John, Valencia CA Jones Soda is a hidden gem. The product is superior to all other corn syrup based drink products. Wish they would go main stream with funkey commercials on prime time hours. They need to have the product more freely available via all avenues, 7-11, AMPM, All grocery chains, Trader Joe's. "Whoop Ass" power dink should lead the marketing campaign, followed by non-syrup based slogans. They could take a lesson from Red-Bull's marketing campaign and success.
This company under the right hands/leadership can do wonders. If Red Bull can pull it off with a foul tasting drink, Jones can surely pull it off with a supperior tasting drink.
From Matchless – Houston, TX Jones need to work to stand out more as a soft drink maker that refuses to use HFCS sweetners. This stuff is man made, nasty and causes greater obesity problems in kids compared with pure cane sugar. Heck, if you're under 30 years old, you probably haven't ever drank sodas without HFCS. As corn prices skyrocket, Jones may be able to gain a pricing advantage with cane sugar sweeteners. I think they have good products and should differenintiate themselves by marketing the differences between them and the big dogs.
From Trish, Moncton NB-Canada My partner and I just discoverd Jones soda a couple of months ago. He noticed the name JONES when we were going through the grocery isle since that is his last name and said "Well we should at least try it.." Since then we are hooked. We love all the flavors. My favorite is orange.
From Mark, Buffalo, NY Astronics is one of a slew of inter-related aerospace manufacturers located in the 'techno valley' (Buffalo)of Western New York State (MOOG, Astronics, Enidine/ITT, Servotronics,etc). All of their stellar performances of late have been tied into military contracts. As long as the eagle fly's over the sandbox, so to will their performances. If she lands, their P/E Ratios will follow.
From Angie, St. Paul, MN One must be very cautious about drawing any conclusions on the outlook of these companies based on their stock performance. These are small, even micro cap stocks that are going to fall heavily in a bear market. Back in November many of them had very nice chart patterns and were breaking out to new highs, but now many of them have fallen 50% or more. This doesn't mean that they're bad companies or that they will not have great new products to offer us, just that they are not performing well under current market conditions (and this shouldn't be surprising). The astute investor would keep this list and look at these companies again in a year or two when a new bull market has been confirmed.
From Wes, Los Angeles, CA Well I own Amerigon stock (ranked #15) and it has dropped almost 50% in the past 11 months. I wouldn't call that a good thing or someone to include in an article about thriving companies in our economy.
From Michael, Mason, MI I work for Liquid Web which is located in Lansing, MI. Over the last 6 years we have grown from a small hosting company with about 10 employees into a major hosting provider with thousands of servers and over 100 employees. This is all despite the economic conditions in Michigan and the U.S. itself to some extent. We are also opening a 3rd data center soon and the governor herself will be at the ground breaking ceremony.
From scowley Is your company doing booming sales despite the economic slump? Tell us about it.
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I work for a company that is affiliated with Life Partners Inc. out of Waco, TX. I am very impressed with the company's leadership and vision. I have worked for other Fortune 100 companies and have not found the level of openness and integrity that is found here. Bravo for Brian Pardo and his long-term management team!