PowerTalk

Thanks for joining me this week on PowerTalk. I’m your host Chris Versace.  As you probably know each week I share my in-depth conversations with the movers and shakers in business with you. Some people ask me why I do this.....the answer is to bring you with me as I go behind the scenes and in the know so you can make more informed business or investing decisions. 

Joining me this week on PowerTalk is Richard Demb, the co-founder and CEO of Abe’s Market - a company that is exploding given the explosive demand for natural foods and products as well as the surge in demand for specialty products that are gluten-free, Paleo-friendly, Kosher or Raw.

Given how busy our lives are these days, there’s a good chance you haven’t heard of Abe’s Market.  I could be wrong, but if your not a person that is looking for organic food and natural products, gluten-free solutions or some other healthy alternatives you may not have heard of Abesmarket.com.

Here’s the thing though, as you you through your local grocery store - a Kroger’s (KR), Safeway (SWY), Harris Teeter (HTSI), Publix Super Markets or some other one - if yours is like mine, your seeing more and more shelf space dedicated to natural, organic and gluten free products. Figures from the U.S. Department of Agriculture find that retail sales of organic foods alone grew to $21.1 billion in 2008, up from $3.6 billion in 1997. According to Datamonitor, U.S. sales of gluten-free food and beverages are expected to reach $5.6 billion by 2015. That compares to other figures that put the market size for gluten free foods at $2.6 billion in 2010.

That’s some big growth and with people becoming increasingly concerned about the quality of the food we eat,  how its grown, raised, fertilized and so on there doesn’t seem to be any slowdown in sight for these types of products. Better yet, they are a proactive consumer -- the kind that a company would love to have. 

That combination has done wonders for companies like Whole Foods (WFM), The Fresh Market (TFM), Natural Grocers (NGVC), United Natural Foods (UNFI) and others.

Rather smartly, Abe’s Market co-founder and CEO Richard Demb realized  what this could mean when that demand for natural, organic and gluten free products was combined with the power of Internet retailing. Soon after Abe’s Market was born -- and today it brings you thousands of products that have the Abe’s stamp of approval across a number of categories including food, beauty, health, home and more. In short, Abe’s is kinda like a combination of Whole Foods meets Amazon.com (AMZN)

But there’s more...

Recently Abe’s Market launched a new service offering that I think your going to want to hear about - it’s led some people to call it  a Groupon (GRPN) Killer. 

All that in more ahead as we go behind the scenes and in the know during my PowerTalk with Richard Demb, co-founder and CEO of Abe's Market.


Ever since Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke hinted that the Fed could begin tapering its stimulating efforts, volatility returned to the stock market. There has been much discussion about when and how the Fed will deal with the sugar stimulus-addicted economy. The concern is if the Fed acts too quickly, much like a child on too much sugar, it will crash. This has led to the return of volatility to the stock market over the last several weeks. 

My view, which I discussed this past weekend when I appeared on The Wall Street Report as well as with subscribers to PowerTrend Profits and ETF PowerTrader, is that the Fed is not likely to taper near term. Data collected over the last few weeks and as recently as earlier this week confirms the U.S. economy has once again entered yet another spring swoon. Just yesterday, the New York Fed's own Empire Manufacturing Survey for June boosted the case for no near-term tapering:

• "The new orders index slipped six points to -6.7, the shipments index fell twelve points to -11.8, and the unfilled orders index fell eight points to -14.5."

• "Labor market conditions worsened, with the index for number of employees dropping to zero and the average workweek index retreating ten points to -11.3. Continuing the trend seen in the past few months, indexes for the six-month outlook declined, suggesting that optimism about future conditions was weakening further."

That’s doesn’t paint a pretty picture, but while its easy to get overly downbeat as I’ve shared with subscribers to PowerTrend Profits there are pockets of strength in the economy. 

In one of this week’s two PowerTalks, Douglas Holtz-Eakin and I talk about those pockets of strength as well as what can be done to help stimulate growth further without adding to the debt burden that we are increasingly putting on further generations.  For those not familiar with Doug, he’s President of the American Action Forum and recent Commissioner on the Congressionally-chartered Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission. Prior to that, Doug was the Chief Economist of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers from 2001-2002. As you’ll hear, he’ll share his view that there is much to go in the auto and housing rebounds, and  the need for a tax overhaul if we really want to jumpstart the U.S. economy.

Weighing in on that last point and others is Diana Furchtgott-Roth, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research as well as a contributing editor of RealClearMarkets.com and a columnist for the Washington Examiner, MarketWatch.com, and Tax Notes. Diana and I touch on the downside of over regulation as well as how the government’s role in backing certain companies and technologies like those found at Solyndra practically almost guaranteed their failure. It’s also why Diana says, the Affordable Care Act is “built to fail.” 

Direct download: 06-17-13_ROTHPOWERTALK.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 11:19am EDT

Ever since Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke hinted that the Fed could begin tapering its stimulating efforts, volatility returned to the stock market. There has been much discussion about when and how the Fed will deal with the sugar stimulus-addicted economy. The concern is if the Fed acts too quickly, much like a child on too much sugar, it will crash. This has led to the return of volatility to the stock market over the last several weeks. 

My view, which I discussed this past weekend when I appeared on The Wall Street Report as well as with subscribers to PowerTrend Profits and ETF PowerTrader, is that the Fed is not likely to taper near term. Data collected over the last few weeks and as recently as earlier this week confirms the U.S. economy has once again entered yet another spring swoon. Just yesterday, the New York Fed's own Empire Manufacturing Survey for June boosted the case for no near-term tapering:

• "The new orders index slipped six points to -6.7, the shipments index fell twelve points to -11.8, and the unfilled orders index fell eight points to -14.5."

  • "Labor market conditions worsened, with the index for number of employees dropping to zero and the average workweek index retreating ten points to -11.3. Continuing the trend seen in the past few months, indexes for the six-month outlook declined, suggesting that optimism about future conditions was weakening further."

That’s doesn’t paint a pretty picture, but while its easy to get overly downbeat as I’ve shared with subscribers to PowerTrend Profits there are pockets of strength in the economy. 

In one of this week’s two PowerTalks, Douglas Holtz-Eakin and I talk about those pockets of strength as well as what can be done to help stimulate growth further without adding to the debt burden that we are increasingly putting on further generations.  For those not familiar with Doug, he’s President of the American Action Forum and recent Commissioner on the Congressionally-chartered Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission. Prior to that, Doug was the Chief Economist of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers from 2001-2002. As you’ll hear, he’ll share his view that there is much to go in the auto and housing rebounds, and  the need for a tax overhaul if we really want to jumpstart the U.S. economy.

Weighing in on that last point and others is Diana Furchtgott-Roth, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research as well as a contributing editor of RealClearMarkets.com and a columnist for the Washington Examiner, MarketWatch.com, and Tax Notes. Diana and I touch on the downside of over regulation as well as how the government’s role in backing certain companies and technologies like those found at Solyndra practically almost guaranteed their failure. It’s also why Diana says, the Affordable Care Act is “built to fail.” 

Direct download: 06-17-13_EAKINPOWERTALK.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 11:14am EDT

Joining me this week on PowerTalk to discuss the growing threat we all face - cyber attacks -- as well as a set of new solutions to combat them is Martin Roesch. Martin is not only a founder of cyber security company Sourcefire (FIRE), but also its chief technology office and a Board Member. 

With cyber attacks growing not only in volume, but with them happening to companies like Google (GOOG), Bank of America (BAC), Northrop Grumman (NOC), Microsoft (MSFT), Yahoo (YHOO), AOL (AOL), LinkedIn (LNKD), Tumblr, the Reuters news service and the BBC to name a few, it’s a cause for alarm. 

Earlier this week I was talking with some folks at the American Chamber of Commerce and they pointed out several of the key concerns that are on the minds of its more than 3 million members. Those businesses that comprise the Chamber’s constituents -- from mom-and-pop shops and to leading industry associations and large corporations -- cyber security is increasingly on their mind. 

How can it not be? 

Symantec’s (SYMC) Internet Security Threat Report, Volume 18 published this past April revealed a 42% surge during 2012 in targeted attacks compared to the prior year. Designed to steal intellectual property, these targeted cyberespionage attacks are increasingly hitting the manufacturing sector as well as small businesses. While it may raise some eyebrows to those not in the know, you may be surprised to learn that 31% of all targeted attacks aimed at businesses with less than 250 employees.

During the course of my PowerTalk with Martin Roesch, we talk about why the bad guys have a leg up on cyber security companies and what Sourcefire is doing to fix that; how security differs from a good defense;  the state of the cyber security industry, including recent consolidation activity and what’s next. Martin also shares details about some of the new products that Sourcefire is rolling out, which sets the stage for a new model of cyber security. 

Direct download: 06-10-13_SOURCEFIREPOWERTALK_.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:14am EDT

Thanks for joining me for another edition of PowerTalk - I’m  your host Chris Versace, editor of the investment newsletter PowerTrend Profits. Joining me today to take you behind the scenes and in the know today is Tom Breitling, the co-founder and chairman of Ultimate Gaming. 

As you may have noticed over the last few years, gambling has grown from being only in Las Vegas, Nevada and Atlantic City, N.J to a number of other states -- Maryland, West Virginia, Connecticut and Pennsylvania to name a few. 

At the same time, technology has had a tremendous impact on our lives and has resulted in the increasing shift toward what I call an Always On, Always Connected Society. It’s hit certain industries hard  for example newspapers and The New York Times (NYT); classifieds, coupons and want ads all of which can be viewed with Monster.com, Groupon (GRPN) or on Valpak.com and more; we communicate less through postal mail and increasingly through email as well as other social media sites like Facebook (FB), Google’s (GOOG) Google + and more. 

Although it’s had its issues, gambling has not been immune to this transformation. While Congress banned online gaming in the U.S. in 2006, that changed recently as tax-hungry states like Nevada, New Jersey and Delaware relaxed the rules. Flash forward to this past April, UltimatePoker.com went live, becoming the first legal, real-money poker site in the U.S. Since then Caesars Entertainment Group said it plans to go live this summer with an online poker site in Nevada.

With more than 10 other states looking at online gaming, be it for poker or for “full blown casino gaming” that was approved in New Jersey, we wanted to get the skinny on the return of online gaming. That’s why I was very excited to talk with Tom - and if anyone should know about the intersection of the Internet and gaming, it’s Tom Breitling given his leadership at Travelscape.com and the Golden Nugget. In case you missed it, he sold both companies and made a ton of money.

How big can online gaming get? Morgan Stanley predicts U.S. online gambling will produce over $9 billion in revenue by the year 2020. That $9 billion figure is the same revenue generated by Las Vegas and Atlantic City markets combined.

As you’ll hear from Tom, this new path for online gaming can help spur not only jobs and taxes, but a number of technologies that make online gaming secure. Tom also shares an interesting perspective on the legislative environment and what it means for business, trust me you won’t want to miss it.

Direct download: 06-03-13_ULTIMATEPOKERPOWERTALK.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:08am EDT

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