Over at BizzyWomen.com, I came across an interesting read written by Miriam Schwab, talking about web presence and the importance of a corporate website. Schwab writes, “Today it is generally agreed that a business is not serious if it does not have a website. People look to websites to find out more about businesses, see how the company presents itself, and what are the services that company provides. People also want to be assured that the business has other, satisfied customers by viewing client lists and testimonials.”

Today, the Israeli financial daily Globes has a piece ranking the websites of Israeli companies that trade in the US. Globes is looking to find out which websites provide useful and up-to-date information for investors to enable them to learn essential information about a specific company, and make informed investment decisions.

The article says: “Being an investor in the age of the Internet is a cinch. If you are an investor, either private or institutional, and come across a company that could be an attractive investment, one of the first and easiest things you can do (aside from calling his broker), is to navigate to the main page on your favorite search engine, type in the name of the company in the search field, and then log on to its website, if it has one. When you gets there, you should find all the details he need: the company’s line of business, who its CEO is, how he or she got the job, the company’s revenue and profit for the latest quarter, who sits on its board, who are the analysts covering it and how to get in touch with them.”

The report basically admits that this is information used for the most part by retail investors, as institutional investors have plenty of tools, like Bloomberg, and rarely will take a look at a corporate website. In all honesty, I am not sure how often most retail investors will go to a corporate website to get more information. I always felt that most retail investors were happy with the information provided to them on Yahoo Finance. How many retail investors care about how a CEO ‘got the job’?

The Globes survey was looking for basic information that should be available to investors, such as contact information of analysts covering the firm, email addresses of at least someone in senior management, and up to date press releases and financial reports. Coming out on top was Voltaire (VOLT), which develop and design server and storage switching and software solutions for enterprise IT networks.

Near the bottom of the list are companies that are lacking some basic information on their websites. TAT Technologies (TATTF) does have an investors relations section and from there you can click on financial reports. Only problem is when you click on it it says “no items available.” Another company near the bottom was G. Willi Food international (WILC). On their website you can’t find out anything about senior management, including who they are. But in case you purchased some of their noodles, rest assured that on their navigation bar they have a recipe section, and you can get a tasty recipe for noodles and vegetables.

Hey, G. Willi could incorporate some social networking into their website and have readers submit and rate all kinds of recipes. Who cares about who is CEO, I’m hungry!

Disclosure: Author’s fund has a position in WILC, he has no position in any other stock mentioned as of 8/05/08.

Please see our Disclaimer HERE.

NEW! Introducing Israel Opportunity Investor, our monthly subscription-only newsletter. Stay ahead of the game and make smart decisions in Israel stocks. Go here to learn more.

Aaron Katsman is Managing Editor of the Israel Opportunity Investor newsletter. He is lead portfolio manager for the Israel Growth Portfolio and Managing Director of America Israel Investment Associates, LLC. For more information, go to www.israelnewsletter.com or call 1-888-327-6179, or email aaron@profile-financial.com.

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At IsraelNewsletter.com, we like to focus on Israeli impact on public markets.  Whether it’s the 100+ Israeli companies listed in the U.S., M&A, or strategic partnerships, Israel technology is making its way into the global Fortune 100.  While IOI analyst Katsman continues to like G. Willi Foods (WILC) for their leading kosher export business (see what he’s written here), there is more applied Israeli technology to the food industry than the general public realizes.

In today’s Globes, there’s an interesting article about Nestle’s (NSRGY) cooperation with Israeli food company, Osem.  Seems the Swiss recognize Israel’s value proposition in various industries as I wrote about Novartis’ recent acknowledgement of Teva’s (TEVA) superiority in the generic pharma field.

Who knew about packaged food though? (Continue »)

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Smart investors know how to look at company provided projections. You’ve got to take them with a grain of salt.

So, when Israel’s Finance Ministry begins making bold projections, you probably require at least a bucket full.

(Continue »)

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Aaron Katsman
IsraelNewsletter.com

The inflation bug has most of us worried. Recently in Israel the CPI was released and showed a 4.7% surge in prices. This is obviously not just a problem in Israel. Throughout the world, inflation, especially food inflation, is alive and well, and has been for quite some time. While at first glance investors might think that food stocks should benefit from higher prices, in practice they have performed poorly over the last few quarters. They have been unable to pass on their higher costs to consumers.
This is why today’s earnings report from G. Willi Food International (WILC), is interesting. For consumers, the earnings report signals more food price hikes coming down the road. For G. Willi, it means a return to strong growth.

Why?

Because commenting on the report, CEO Zwi Williger said, ” Furthermore first quarter’s results demonstrate that we are beginning to regain the momentum that had been building over the past few years as we have been able to successfully pass on some of our costs to our customers.”

The problem that has plagued food stocks of late is that they haven’t been able to pass on costs. The fact that G. Willi has started to do so, potentially could prove to be a big boost to their bottom line.

As for its report, the company showed strong revenue growth aided by recent acquisitions, like Shamir Salads, who produce healthy Mediterranean salads, like Hummous.

While the company refrained from providing guidance for the rest of the year, if we see a drop in the price of food materials, G. Willi could potentially benefit.

Disclosure: Author’s fund has a position in WILC. He has no position in any other stock mentioned as of 5/28/08.

Please see our Disclaimer HERE.

NEW! Introducing Israel Opportunity Investor, our monthly subscription-only newsletter. Stay ahead of the game and make smart decisions in Israel stocks. Go here to learn more.

Aaron Katsman is Managing Editor of the Israel Opportunity Investor newsletter. He is lead portfolio manager for the Israel Growth Portfolio and Managing Director of America Israel Investment Associates, LLC. For more information, go to www.israelnewsletter.com or call 1-888-327-6179, or email aaron@profile-financial.com.

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