Great Press For CLCT In Today's Barrons...
EOMINT
Posts: 349 ✭
Oy...that about sums it up.
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EOMINT
Posts: 349 ✭
Comments
Jeremy
Always looking for Topps Salesman Samples, pre '51 unopened packs, E90-2, E91a, N690 Kalamazoo Bats, and T204 Square Frame Ramly's
Hall of Famers from all 4 sports
Would guess not many on this board read Barrons.
But wow what an article it was. I was surprised a publication like Barron's made the effort to do a negaitive article on little CU. I am equally surprised a small market cap company like CU has analysts who write on it.
I was also taken aback that over 60% of revenues at CU I think the article said was coin related.
Thank God nothing like what was described in the article re autographs goes on in cards.
Thanks!
Looking for Jonny Gomes cards, especially Triple Threads and printing plates. Will consider all cards, though. Got something? Contact me at c_u_l_1@yahoo.com
The article makes a bunch of sensasionalist points and its not a 100% accurate
PSA/DNA its only about 5 % of the company's revenue ...i think it might be best sell the unit and get away from the negative press that comes with it.
DAV...i was actually surprised that only 60% of the revenues came from the coin side ...The real money maker its the coin biz .
PSA should be sold to a private firm.
Groucho Marx
CLCT has long been dependant on 3 main coin submitters for a huge portion of their revenues. One of the 3 all but leaves and they've got to be sweating a little. If one of the other ones dies suddenly or something, there goes the business. The card grading only represents 30% of their business, at maximum. The diamond grading business could be successful, but if it's not, they're going to take a hit. People have been grading diamonds for years, but whether they're going to accept a third-party grade is another story, especially translating it to increasing the value of the diamond enough to justify the cost. Both of the lawsuits sound very iffy from the plaintiff's side. No arbitrator, judge or jury is going to award the authenticator guy anything even close to $10M. He suffered no direct damages, only indirect (he claims) from his name being associated with something he never actually authenticated... and if one of those auto's turned out to be a fake, like 6 other people also signed off on those forms, so no one can blame him directly. I think the $14K they did award him was generous, considering he did nothing. How the heck did he or PSA determine that there were 14,060 LOA's in question?
This is further proof for anyone here who thinks GAI has a sustainable business plan. They don't have a fighting chance in hell for long-term survival because they are so 1-dimensional. If not for the coins, PSA would be a rinky-dink company too.
All of the big 3 could make a couple of mistakes and be out of the game ...but then again so can a lot of companies in any field.
PSA is the biggest one and could probably weather some pretty bad storms ( and it has )...but at the same time being the biggest can make you slow to react. PSA is also part of CU and as such it has to deal with any problems from the company on top their own problems.
SGC i believe its independent now ...Or at least somewhat independent. The have their Niche but its by far the most finite niche they could find. there are tons of 50's and 60's stuff out there but there is only so much pre war to be graded. At 50,000 cards per year in five years they would have graded a quarter million cards... that has to be right around the total of pre war cards out there. where will the money come from when they run out of cards to grade?
GAI...Unless something happens to PSA or SGC ...I dont know how long they could keep it up? They will probably have a place but they will have to whore their name ..kinda of like BGS.
Groucho Marx
What authentication method/authenticator is 100% foolproof? Does PSA/DNA claim to be foolproof? What is an acceptable percentage for getting authentication right? Thinking and expecting a company or someone can provide 100% foolproof authentication is looking at that business or person's abilities with rose-colored glasses. It's like pack grading or trying to tell the difference with grading, especially between a PSA 9 or 10 with cards - there is a certain amount of subjectivity that goes into it. We all know that. Barron's is notorious for its "hype" articles - either positive or negative. It's what its readership expects. I know because I daytraded for a year and used to read those kinds of articles every week from that pub. I know that I feel a heck of a lot better at night when I lay down a couple hundred dollars for a card I just bought off of EBAY that was graded a PSA 7 or 8 rather than taking someone's word for it that it is NM or NM/MT. I remember about 8 years ago I bought through the mail a 1960 Topps Johnny Unitas for $70 from a dealer who claimed the card was near mint, only to see that it was MISCUT from the back, and I was not able to get a refund. This experience is what pushed me to buy vintage graded cards almost exclusively. I'll still buy modern raw though to get graded and again it's hit or miss, but it's a lot less expensive with the kind of modern cards I'm dealing with.
John
1993 Pro Set Power All-Power-Defense Gold #1
Very interesting retrospective.
<< <i>CU's balance sheet appears strong according to the article.
Very interesting retrospective. >>
B/S's should always be strong in a service-oriented business. The company could probably improve their economics substantially if they relocated to a lower-rent zip code, being that they are in one of the most expensive in the nation.
The key question - I think - is determining how much [in terms of % of revenues and % of submissions] of CLCT's business is related to its top 10-20 customers. That will give you a better idea of who holds the power...
~ms
Not sure if this is the article or not but it sounds like what is being discussed.
Always looking for 53 Topps Baseball and "stuff"
Collecting Tony Perez PSA and Rookie Baseball PSA