CEO Jeffery Katz recently said on their earnings call that, “Sales for the quarter came in better than we expected due to strong and earlier-than-anticipated shipments of our new products. So far we’ve received excellent feedback and we are seeing strong sell-through at retail for Tag. Leapster 2 and Didj are just being introduced but early indications are promising, particularly at LeapFrog.com.”
Katz also talked about new product lauches in 2008 and for the next couple years:
“We have two remaining launches left for the year — the LeapFrog Learning Path, which will debut in August, as I alluded to earlier; and Crammer, our study and sound system, which will launch in the early part of the fall. Later in the fall, we are going to share with you the details of how we expect our strategy to evolve in the coming years but for now, you should know that we have quite an extensive product plan laid out through 2009 and into 2010 and 2011. The first elements of this will be on display at Toy Fair in October.”
I like LF’s stock float at 30 million shares with 8 million shares short and a 26% short ratio. LF has excellent expectations of EPS growth going forward turning this year’s loss estimated at -0.16 EPS into 0.42 EPS for next year.
Natus Medical Inc. (BABY)
BABY manufactures, and markets neurondiagnostic and newborn care products to healthcare professionals worldwide. BABY is growing through several small acquistions and has an excellent growth profile. EPS growth is estimated to be 48% this year and 23% next year. Quarterly growth year over year is at 62% and quarterly revenue growth is at 41%. BABY has excellent stock characteristics with a 27 million share float, 16.2 short ratio and 3.6 million shares short. Other names to keep an eye on are GYMB and DIS. GYMB is a great children’s retailer that has been struggling a bit lately, watch for a turnaround. DIS is the owner of the Baby Einstein collection as well as the most famous of all children’s amusement park and infinite toys.
