(I found this story from the business pages, an interesting look at the formula industry. This drop in Martek shares is significant - this story showed up in numerous business pages of newspapers, today. The other stories just quoted Martek, explaining that the downturn in sales was just caused by the fact that manufacturers had overstocked the oils, and sales were temporarily off while these inventories were drawn down. The analysts interviewed below give completely other reasons. When they mention "food programs" in the article, do you think they mean WIC? What is WIC buying these days - the supplemented formula, or the old basic ones? Perhaps WIC didn't take up the new formulas as widely as expected? Janice Reynolds) Martek Biosciences shares off 14 percent http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8EG6LRO4.htm?campaign_id=apn_home_down&chan=db Martek Biosciences Corp., a maker of nutritional oils used in baby formula and dietary supplements, saw its shares slide 14 percent Wednesday on a bleak quarterly outlook <snip> First Albany's David Webber cut his first-quarter estimate for adjusted profit to 13 cents a share and predicted "modest" growth for all of fiscal 2006. He cited an apparent slowing in growth of U.S. infant formula sales, uncertainty about overseas launches of fortified formula and "serious competition for food supply contracts." Merrill Lynch analyst David Munno expressed similar concerns about a lack of guidance from Martek about the timing or scale of food program launches. He reiterated his "Sell" rating for the stock and suggested $19 to $21 as a fair value. Citigroup analyst Elise Wang was less pessimistic about the company, noting that Martek is still negotiating new agreements with key infant formula manufacturers and food companies. She said these contracts may result in product sales growth once finalized. "We continue to believe the market demand for Martek's products in the infant formula area remains intact," Wang wrote. She argued that large formula makers such as Mead Johnson & Co., Ross Laboratories, Wyeth and Nestle SA have sufficient profit incentives to join with Martek in its efforts for market expansion in the U.S. and abroad. (see link for full article) *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html