Healthcare
Medical Equipment & Supplies
Analyst Interview covering:
Possis Medical, Inc. (NASD: POSS)
Mr. Chad Simmer, CFA
Miller Johnson Steichen Kinnard
“In terms of the mechanical thrombectomy market place, Possis Medical is the only company out there now that has an FDA approved device for removing thrombus from the coronary arteries. From that standpoint, I think the company is well positioned. Clearly, one could argue that their primary competition might be drugs rather than other devices. There are other devices that could be used to remove thrombus, although at this point, Possis seems to have the most effective technology.” - Mr. Chad Simmer, CFA, Miller Johnson Steichen Kinnard

Services
Communications Services
Equinix, Inc. (EQIX-NASD)
“I think the thing that any investor should walk away with is that our neutral model is proving to be the right business model for outsourced Internet infrastructure and managed co-location services, and this is driving successful growth for our company. The proof points are there in the numbers we have established.” - Peter Van Camp

Services
Business Services
Central Parking Corporation (CPC-NYSE)
“I am back, and I think I know this business better than anyone has ever known the parking business, and certainly better than anyone does today. . . I feel very confident that we will be able to bring this company back to the prominence that it once held and once delivered to stock holders.” - Monroe Carell, Jr.

Consumer Products
Food Processing
High Liner Foods Incorporated (HLF - Toronto)
“We have a sub-category up in Canada of natural portions of products like salmon, sole, cod and haddock, which are lightly coated and flavored. We call that the High Liner Signature line and it has done extremely well in Canada over the last three or four years. We took the best products from that line such as salmon in creamy dill sauce, salmon in roasted garlic and herbs or scallops in a lime salsa marinade and introduced them to the Club Channel. Products like that are very much restaurant quality in nature but very simple to prepare for the consumer. We like to talk about one-step cooking where you set your oven or microwave with a time and a temperature and when the beeper or buzzer goes off, the products are finished. They are not only easy to cook but are very delicious. We took those products and adopted them to the Club Channel and have been selling aggressively to both Costco and Sam’s Club for the last two years. In 2002, our sales were thirty-three million Canadian dollars. That is from a standing start two years ago, so we have had a lot of success there and these products really respond to what consumers are looking for today. They want to eat more seafood but they do not want to take the time or risk involved with preparation. We give them a great tasting product without the worries.” - Henry E. Demone

Consumer Cyclical
Furniture and Fixtures
Mity Enterprises Inc. (MITY-NASD)
“MITY is a small public company, but our growth has consistently outpaced the industry throughout our history.  In an industry where there are not a lot of interesting and new things going on, we have been innovative. We introduced the plastic table and we are getting ready to introduce a new generation of plastic tables. We have a folding chair with six patents and we are focusing on continuing to develop new products to challenge existing products. In an industry that traditionally has been not nearly as growth oriented, we have a focus on that growth. Because of the market that we focus on, we are able to command higher margins. We typically have a 15-20% operating margin, where others in our industry typically are often in the single digits or just over 10% yielding a real opportunity there for investors.” - Paul Killpack

Technology
Software & Programming
Catalyst International, Inc. (OTC: CLYS.OB)
“There are two major areas that set us apart from the competition. One is our unique relationship with and our understanding of ERP environments. Most of our customers today are looking to find ways to better use the large investment they have made in IT infrastructures over the last five years. Because we can completely integrate rather than just simply interface our products into those environments, and because we understand those environments better than anyone else, we can help our customers to grow into these smaller capital investments and significantly improve the ROI (Return On Investment) of larger investments they have made in the recent past. The second thing is we have unique expertise and execution capabilities that cut across multiple products in heterogeneous environments. This allows us to work with our customers to get the best possible performance from their supply chains and thereby better serve their customers through improved delivery, performance and accuracy. We are always out there scanning the environment, looking for what new techniques are available. We are very focused on the success of our customers as our primary objective.” - James B. Treleaven