he made over a billion dollars for david geffen, racked up better returns than warren buffett, - whiteboard for sale

(
Fortune magazine)-
At the bell times Hotel in West Hollywood, California, the atmosphere is very tense.
Early last year.
Top 20 executives at Sears Roebuck
Eddie Lambert, a 42-year-old hedge fund manager, has just planned a strategy that is unlikely to buy their highly respected but troubled company.
In fact, the vehicle he bought was Kmart--
During the bankruptcy, which Lampert did not know where to take control. -
Just a source of uneasiness.
Once their presentation started, Lampert also began digging holes in almost every idea.
"What are the benefits of doing so?
He asked over and over again.
"What is the value?
"He vetoed a modest proposal of $2 million to improve lighting in stores.
"Why invest?
"He proposed a plan to sell dvd at a discounted price to better compete with Target and Wal --Mart.
"No matter what the target is, Wal-Mart-
"Yes," he declared.
The eyes began to roll.
Of course, Lambert is a charming character: he has become one of the richest people in the United States, survived a strange and terrible kidnapping, and somehow put kemat dying
But when the Sears team asked him to share his vision for their company, he put the issue aside.
One participant said the impression was that "Eddie intends to withdraw cash from Sears to invest in the next member of his hedge fund.
That view comes with the field, Lambert says: "The resistance I get is, 'he's a hedge fund guy. ' Full stop.
Some places can be a symbol of honor.
This is almost a kind of ridicule in other countries.
"A year after the bell times conference, many Sears executives-
Including CEO, CFO and buyer-
All out of the picture
Shares in Sears rose 30%, and Lampert was fully responsible.
Although his official title is chairman of the board, his business style is very similar to that of the CEO, who has a say in strategy, marketing, merchandising, etc.
"I'm not from retail, but I'm a shopper," Lampert said . " Lampert has a gentle, sometimes shy attitude. it's a hedge fund guy you have a big swing against.
"I solve this problem with practical, logical ideas.
"Eddie Lambert is Steve Jobs in the investment community: he thinks differently, behaves differently, and the result is extraordinary.
He is the greatest investor of his generation.
Former mentor)
Richard Rainwater and Lampert have data to prove this.
His hedge fund, ESL Investments, has had an average annual return of nearly 30% since its launch of 1988, according to several investors including Dell founder Michael Dell, media tycoons David Geffen and the Tish family.
Geffen invested $0. 2 billion in 1992 (
When Lambert was 29
He said he would have $9 billion today if he did not regularly come up with funds to diversify.
Geffen said, in fact, "I made more money from Eddie than all the businesses I created and sold.
"Lambert is richer than Buffett was at that age.
His $15 billion fund has outperformed Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway in 18 years. year span (
Of course, the bigger Berkshire will be a heavy burden).
Unlike other hedge funds, ESL generally does not short stocks, trade derivatives, get into money or use aggressive leverage.
Lampert buys cheap stocks and holds them for a long time (
See page 100 "how Lampert picks stocks).
When he was in his 90 s, he made his first big fortune with IBM and financial stocks such as Wells Fargo, and became a billionaire by buying self-driving and self-driving, the value of the two stocks is because he invested in them.
But so far, Capper has been his coup with kemat.
Shares soared 300% in 2004 alone, and ESL's shares rose from $1 to $1. $3 billion to $5.
4 billion, as a reward for the year, he received a fee income of $1 billion.
The question now is: is Lambert's acquisition of Sears another inspired work by genius? -
For example, creating wealth for public investors?
Or did he finally go too far?
In a series of interviews-the first in-
Since the Sears deal, he has had in-depth discussions with any outside person, including Wall Street analysts. -
Lambert admits that his hedge fund has almost all of its own funds.
This means that his personal wealth also depends on the fate of Sears Holdings, because Sears-
It's called Kmart now.
After soaring to $163 last summer, Sears Holdings's share price has fallen to the nearest $121. With same-
Sears's store sales fell 12% this Christmas, a snipe by retail purists. -
Wall Street cheers have been overwhelming for some time. -
The sound is getting bigger and bigger.
"These financial people, including Eddie Lambert, don't know who the customers are," said Brett beimer, chairman of the US research group, a retail consultancy.
Former Sears CEO Arthur Martinez called the decline in Sears holiday sales "very disturbing" and wondered how long Lambert could sustain such a bad performance.
If Lampert is blinking, he will certainly not show it.
His hedge fund, which owns 40% of Sears Holdings, worth nearly $8 billion, is by far the biggest position. (
As chairman of Sears, he has no salary. )
From a small office of four inconspicuous people.
Story building in Greenwich, Connecticut.
Lampert manages $54 billion, 330,000-
E-retail giants by phone
Mail and video conferencing.
He often sits in his Sparta conference room, drawing a large whiteboard for long-distance listening Sears executives.
The key point on his agenda is: willingness to sacrifice sales for profit.
Ignoring Wall Street expectations.
Question everything
Lambert is a white man.
Knuckle flier has only been there six times at sear headquarters near Chicago.
But Karen Austin, chief information officer, said Lambert was the company's number one.
Users of computers-
Analyze the base tools for sales, profit and inventory based on the store, region and commodity group.
He was a geek inside, and he spent hours in his Connecticut office digging into the data and focusing on anything that didn't make money.
His critics argue that it is not complicated to judge the profitability of a project in isolation ---
Even if individual items lag behind, the retailer's product menu is important.
Lampert disagrees.
As he admitted, sales decline in Selle in December was disappointing
Final gains due in the medium term
March's profit margin is expected to increase.
This is partly because goods that are not profitable in the store are disappearing.
Sears has recently stopped selling traditional TVs and now offers only expensive flat-screen TVs.
As for Wal-Mart's dvd
The market and the target price are also things of the past. An in-
Store test shows full-
The priced dvd brings a lot of volume and more to the bottom line.
Eddie's right.
"I thought they would kill me," Lampert said . ".
He sat in the conference room of ESL, almost three years after he was kidnapped.
Lampert's move has moved to a new building, and safety has become tighter ---
The best receptionist in Connecticut is sitting behind the counter in the small entrance area of ESL--
But when Lambert told the whole story of what happened to him in early 2003, the horror shook him again.
Ironically, if Lambert had not been kidnapped that day, he might not be the only undisputed king of Sears and Kmart now.
If he is not overtaken by a potential business partner who has taken his absence as an opportunity, he may even be retired.
To learn about this legend. -
The complete story that has not been told until now--
You have to go back to the beginning of the Kmart deal.
Almost everyone thought Lampert was crazy in 2002, and after the retailer applied for 11 chapters, he started buying Kmart's debt for 40 cents a dollar.
Even more so, as prices fell to 20 cents, Lambert's total investment eventually increased to $0. 7 billion, and his investment also increased.
"For most people, Kmart looks like a pile of garbage," said Al Koch, then Kmart's interim chief financial officer and restructuring consultant AlixPartners.
"We have been told that this hedge fund guy has bought a large part of Kmart and wants to get out of bankruptcy as soon as possible.
None of us have heard of him.
But Lambert knows exactly what he's doing.
He spent hundreds of hours analyzing the financial situation of Kmart and came to a simple conclusion: "The bankruptcy of Kmart can be avoided," he said.
In his view, the retailer has wasted billions of dollars on improving and overstocking in unprofitable stores.
The general wisdom is that Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart and Target have squeezed Kmart into a forgotten position by stealing its sales, and Kmart has had to fight back to keep its shrinking market share.
Lampert has a different feeling: discount stores can only succeed by managing Kmart's profitability, not sales growth.
If needed, Lampert could sell Kmart's property, which was worth $0. 8 billion in the liquidation analysis filed by the bankruptcy court.
He is sure it deserves more.
2003 in touch, Kmart is eager to get more cash to keep working, while Lambert believes helping partners: Ron Becker, the secret of the California billionaire who already owns more than 6% of Kmart's stock
Bankruptcy, want to join again.
Lampert and Burkle consider several possibilities: Burkle will buy some of Lampert's Kmart debt or work with him to put additional money into Kmart.
"The company needs a lot of money," Lampert said . ".
"He has a lot of valuable experience. Friday, January.
Month, about 7: 30 pm. M.
Lambert left the office and went to a nearby restaurant to meet his wife and mother for dinner.
He is looking forward to a weekend full of calls and meetings-
Next Monday is a key deadline for Kmart refinancing-
But when he walked to the car in the underground parking lot of the ESL building, four masked men caught him.
They pulled a thick hood over his head, pushed him into an SUV, and then sped away.
An hour later, Lambert was sitting in the toilet in the motel bathroom, blindfolded, and her hands and feet tied in plastic handcuffs.
The kidnappers told him they were hired to kill him.
It doesn't make much sense, but he doesn't want to argue.
"One thing I'm sure of is that I have to tell the truth because they know everything about me," Lampert recalls . ".
"They know where I live, how much I pay for my house, who works in my office, and how much I value.
They would know if I forced them.
He waited 39 hours in the bathroom. knew-what.
They gave him water and a meal.
Fried chicken of Popeye).
When they took off his blindfold to get him to eat, he lowered his eyes even though they were wearing masks.
"I respect you very much," he said . "
They took his wallet but allowed him to hold a photo of his 5-year-old passportmonth-
He stuffed his son into his wallet.
When they asked him to record his wife, he agreed.
"I am in the hands of God," he said . "
It was later reported that Lampert convinced his kidnappers that he would deliver $5 million to them if they let him go.
But the real situation is a little different.
One of the kidnappers foolishly ordered the pizza delivered to a friend's house with Lambert's credit card.
When Lambert heard them talk about it, he saw an opening.
Don't they realize that the police are watching them now?
Only when they release him will they have a chance to get away with it.
Lampert has never seen them after all, so he can't identify them.
But if they were captured as prisoners-or harmed him--
They will have a lot of trouble.
Lampert said he did discuss the return with his kidnappers but did not decide.
"In the end, they realized it was better to let me go than to kill me," he said . ". At 2 A. M.
On Sunday, the kidnappers dropped his communication-95.
Still, he was worried that they would shoot him, but they drove away.
He walked a mile to the Greenwich police station.
The police arrested the criminal in a few days.
From 17 to 23, they used the Internet to study Lampert and buy equipment for their captain.
They pleaded guilty later.
They are in prison now and Lambert says he just wants to leave the episode behind.
"A few friends said to me, 'Stop.
Don't worry about this anymore.
"Retired," recalls Lambert.
"I thought about it ---
It's not long, but it's definitely a consideration.
He said that a few hours after returning home, he asked his colleagues to call the main participants in Kmart's refinancing and send a message: "I need to collect my thoughts.
I don't need a few weeks. I need days.
"His reaction surprised him: some thought he might have made up the kidnapping story to get time.
Then he heard about Becker.
On the second day of Lambert's release, when he recovered from his pain with his family, Burkel went to Kmart's then Jim Adamson --
Without Lambert, he said, he was willing to take out the money the company needed.
When Lambert found out, he was furious at the obvious run-through of bourker.
"It brought me back to reality," he said . "
Instead of retiring, he jumped back to the battlefield and left Berkel aside ---
And promised $0. 11 billion.
Burkle said Lampert misunderstood his strategy and he did so only because a colleague from Lampert told him that ESL would not invest more money.
"When someone is kidnapped and trying to reach an agreement around him, we will never go in," Burkle said . ".
In any case, by the time Kmart went bankrupt in May 2003, Lampert had invested about $0. 8 billion a year earlier.
When his debt was converted into equity, he found that he had a 54% controlling stake.
At 14, his father died of a heart attack at the age of 47.
Nevertheless, he left the family who lived in the middle --
Class town in Roslyn. Y.
Almost no savings.
Lambert's mother found a job as a clerk on Saks Fifth Avenue.
Eddie works in different warehouses. -
Shelves, picking orders-
Help support her and his sister Tracey after school and on weekends.
"He was a child and then suddenly became a man," his mother said . ".
Eddie took care of the pressure.
He got good grades, made time for football and basketball and won a scholarship
He won the athlete award in his high school.
He received financial assistance to help pay for Yale where he majored in economics and was introduced to Phi Beta Kappa and Skull & Bones.
"Even Eddie was nervous at the time," said Steven Mnuchin, his college roommate, who now runs Dune Capital in Manhattan and serves on the Sears Holding board.
After graduating from college, Lambert got a job at Goldman Sachs and persuaded Robert Rubin to join him in venture capital. arbitrage unit. The decision-
The production process he learned while working for the future finance minister (
Vice chairman of Citigroup)--
Possibility of assumption and its inherent risk-
He said: "in investment, you often make decisions when you are uncertain.
After four years, 25-year-
Old Lambert decided that he did not want to build his career in someone else's money machine.
In early 1988, he moved to Texas to work with Richard Rainwater, whom he met a few months ago in nantarket.
The rain gave him seed money to start his own stock fund, which Lampert called ESL.
"Eddie works harder than anyone I 've ever seen," said the rain . ".
He recalled that when he owned the Texas Rangers (with George W. Bush)
He will take these guys from the office to the stadium to play baseball on a sunny afternoon.
"Eddie will go with us, but he will be there and his files will expand on the right --field stands.
"Lampert was shocked by the depiction of the rain.
"Richard's office is like the central station," he said . "
"Richard will say, 'Joe Smith is coming to town.
Let's have lunch with Joe Smith.
I will say, no, I have work to do.
"A year and a half later, he was separated from the rain due to disagreement over his role.
Lampert is pushing for trading, but Rainwater wants him to keep focusing on buying and selling stocks.
"It's not that I think I will make a deal," Lampert said . " He set out alone at the age of 27 with ESL.
"But I'm hell-
I stick to the principle that I should have the flexibility to do a deal.
He added, "Ironically, I did not reach an agreement until 15, 16, 17 years later.
"The first deal was Kmart.
In the early days of ESL, Lampert was an ordinary passive investor.
"I bought IBM two years after Lou Gesner got there," he said . ".
"They have an incredible service business, but most investors focus on the mainframe and PC business, so IBM's valuation is low.
We made four or five times in year 45.
"Starting with AutoZone and AutoNation after 90 s, he became more active, attacked capital expenditures, and played a key role in replacing senior management.
He was criticized by some critics who accused him of pursuing short-term interests
It may eventually damage the company's terms and conditions.
But shares of AutoZone and AutoNation continue to rise and ESL remains one of its core assets.
Lambert's tactics. -
And how critics react to them. -
Will be a model for his future trading.
When KMART went bankrupt in 2003, Lampert quickly cut spending, reduced inventory, and stopped what he called "crazy promotions" to clean up the goods.
"In the first year or so, we have the same decline --
But more shops make a profit.
For some, it looks like a plane from 40,000 feet to 20,000 feet, and it will land in five minutes from now.
We said we would land the plane. ' And we did.
"Not only did stocks land, but they also soared.
By the summer of 2004, Kmart had made steady profits and accumulated $3 billion in cash.
Retail newbies prove everyone wrong.
The talk on the street is that Lampert plans to use Kmart's real estate as his secret cache to collect cash from the company.
Lampert took advantage of this moment.
On June, he announced the sale of about 70 Kmart stores-5% of the base--
Arrive at Sears and Home Depot for over $0. 9 billion.
Kmart stock amplified the number in the news.
The $0. 8 billion stake in Lampert is now worth about $4 billion.
But Lambert still has a card to play.
Over the past four years, his hedge fund has quietly accumulated nearly 15% of Sears shares.
He sold 50 Kmart stores at high prices, highlighting the weaknesses of Sears management.
Wall Street believes Kmart is doing better in trading (
The purchase of Home Depot is considered more strategic)
Sears shares fell.
This opens the door for the second phase of Lampert's plan: using Kmart to take over Sears.
On the Halloween weekend of 2004, Lambert and Sears CEO Alan Lacey sat down at their home in Greenwich, Lambert.
Lambert urged Lacey to sell him the company.
After the endless bad news-
Sales fell, profits were short, and 75,000 jobs were laid off. -
Lacey was exhausted.
Three weeks later, Kmart announced a $12 billion acquisition.
Shortly after, Lambert made a phone call to Arthur Martinez, who was on a short
Living in the post-90 s revival.
Martinez has been to the company (and its stock)
By reducing costs, implementing new financial discipline, and attracting female shoppers with the "softer side of Sears" campaign.
Martinez has an office in Greenwich, not far from ESL, and in a gentle winter he walks a few blocks to visit.
Although the two had never met before, Lambert greeted him warmly.
"Do you think I did something crazy?
When they sat down, Lambert asked Martinez.
Martinez did not answer him directly.
"You have taken on the most complex retail consolidation mission in history," he replied . ".
Mr. Martinez recalled that Mr. Lambert wanted to know how he changed a large bureaucracy.
"I told him it was a lot harder than I thought," Martinez said . ".
He told Lambert that he underestimated the "cultural challenge" and that the old guards should be cleared faster.
"He was very helpful," Lambert said.
The changes he made did not persist, so the turnover stalled.
"Lambert got this message, although his strategy was not for Martinez.
He replaced Martinez's successor, CEO Lacey, and the 51-year-old retail newcomer, Alvin Lewis, who is a catering person and former president of Yum catering group (
Owner of Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and KFC)
Just before the Sears deal was announced, who he hired to run Kmart.
"His learning curve is very steep," said Lewis's Lampert . " He often talks to him.
Mail keeps going.
CEO Lewis recalled that a few months ago he asked Lambert, "where did you end and where did I start ? "?
"Why do you know that? " Eddie said ? "
This is a cooperative relationship.
Lewis is pragmatic.
"You check your self at the door," he said . ".
"Eddie is a non-traditional leader.
I learned to be unconventional.
"Lampert also found Sears's new marketing director, not through recruiters, but by asking to guide him to IBM's tech world contacts.
Lambert, who admired the company's cultural revival, asked 30-year-old Maureen McGuire
Meet him at his ESL office.
McGuire recalled, asking Lambert, "Why are you hiring me?
I have no retail experience.
And he said to me, that's why I want you.
I need someone with fresh eyes.
Bill Crawley, 48, is now Lambert's right-hand man at ESL, his eyes and ears at Sears headquarters, usually three days a week.
"We will not use discounted cash flow within five years and weigh it against capital costs," Crowley said . " Crawley is the chief financial officer and chief executive officer of Lambert.
"We talk about how much money we are making now and how that will change.
"Sometimes the only passion for Lambert seems to be tightening operations. (
In an experiment of expansion, the new store is called Sears necessities, putting brands such as Sears's artisans, Kenmore and DIHAD into Kmart's off-the-
The location of the shopping center has been reduced after the launch of the lower standard. )
Greg merrich, stock bear at Morgan Stanley, said: "You can find professional retailers who have scaled down to a sustainable level.
But in the general
Commodity retailers, no long-term examplesterm success.
"The concept of spending money on business ---
I have no objection.
"I just want the reward for it," Lampert said . ".
This attitude undoubtedly helps to release cash flow: Sears Holdings closed 2005 of the deal for more than $3.
5 billion in its book.
But how will Eddie create long-term value?
He did not provide any details.
When I come up with a popular guess-
If the improved operation does not allow the stock to flow quickly, he will start selling more real estate and even the artisan brand of Sears ---
He simply said, "No.
"In other conversations, he suggested that it would be better to use them than to unload the company's main properties ---
He called the end of the land a "strategic asset ".
But he provided few details.
In other words, we just have to believe him--
Like his hedge fund investors. (
He wants five.
Their minimum commitment refused to tell them what he had invested in. )
He pointed out three role models, which may be better than any retail plan he might propose as to where he is going: Bob Rubin, who claims the best decision --
Manufacturers keep their options open at the last reasonable moment;
The coach of the New England Patriots team, Bill Belichick, is constantly adjusting his game plan to confuse his opponent and defeat him;
Warren Buffett changed from investors to business builders, bought the business at a high price and rescheduled cash flow.
"The entry strategy is actually more important than the exit strategy," Lampert said . ".
Can Sears Holdings grow into another Berkshire Hathaway company?
"A self-evident secret about business leaders is that they often don't know where they will end up," said Lampert coyly . ".
"I know the right direction.
Will we finally reach our destination? -
Rebuild Sears Holdings into a great company in many ways-I don't know.
But we are moving in that direction.
"At the end of January, LAMPERT took me for a walk --
Through Kmart located in N White PlainsY.
20 minutes from his Greenwich office.
He pointed out that he redirected the toothpaste display to the final aisle and pointed out that the bath towel section required a higher level of signage.
His mother joined us and we sat outdoors in Martha Stewart's patio chair --
The furniture part of the chat.
"I never thought he would go retail," said Dolores Lambert . ".
"It's a very difficult business.
But it's a challenge. Eddie likes it.
"She talked about how he was admitted to Harvard and Yale Law School after graduating from college, and how she collapsed when he told her he was going to Goldman.
"I don't know what Goldman is," she recalls, adding: "I called my mother and I cried.
I was hysterical.
"I asked Dolores Lambert what was Eddie's biggest insecurity.
She paused, almost suffocated, and then replied, "It was a terrible thing, but he did not live long enough to accomplish all the goals.
"His mother went on to say, as before his father's death, how Lambert wrote down his goals on a yellow legal document.
"But Eddie won't die young," she said without looking at him.
"He will probably live to be in his 90 s.
"Lambert sat quietly and looked at us, but was immersed in his own thoughts.
"I want to be a great businessman," Lampert told me earlier . ".
Even though he has done all the work, you may think that he already feels that way.
But Lampert has a greater desire, even if he is basically silent about those wishes.
He sat in Kmart with his mother and he agreed that he was as worried as his father that he would die when he was young.
"If you ask me this question, I will not answer it like this.
But that's the right answer.
Then he was silent.
Maybe he is calculating the probability. no matter what the probability is, he thinks he has no time to waste.
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Like Buffett, Eddie Lambert calls himself a "value investor", meaning he buys companies whose assets are worth more than the current transaction price.
"My idea is that I will pay this price and great things may happen, but there is no need for me to do it well," he said . ".
He usually does not short stocks, trade currencies or derivatives, does not take on a lot of leverage, and does not do anything fancy that most hedge funds will do.
His company, ESL Investments, employs 20 employees, while another large hedge fund (
Only a few)
There will be hundreds of trading halls and a busy trading hall.
"We try to stay focused," Lampert said . ".
He holds a senior position in a large company, usually for a long time.
Since 1997 and 2000, he has owned AutoZone and AutoNation, respectively, which are his two major investments in addition to Sears Holdings.
ESL currently owns about 29% of each company.
Lambert's stock selection is an "immersion", he said ".
Before he put a penny into the car area, he visited the Dorson of the car
An analyst at Parts spent six months visiting hundreds of stores posing as a demanding customer.
"It may be excessive, but he can't resist it," Lampert said.
"What Eddie does is not at the level of 99% of the hedge fund world," said Tom Tisch, a partner at ESLlimited, who has been an esl since 1992.
In order to avoid the pressure to sell his shares too early, Lampert asked ESL investors to commit to five years of funding ---
This is rare in the hedge fund world, and the standard lock-up period is one year.
Lampert also believes that secrecy is a key advantage for investors.
Because ESL has such a large stake in the company today, these shares must be publicly disclosed.
But Lambert still refuses to talk about the details of his portfolio, even with his own investors.
In the past, lampert occasionally clashed with his limited partners on this policy.
David Geffen, a media mogul who has been investing in Lampert since 1992, recalls one time he insisted, "I want to know exactly where my money is.
Lambert refused to tell him.
"The rules are the rules, and they are the same for everyone," said Geffen . ".
"Eddie is very strict.
This is one thing I admire Eddie.
But I don't like it.
"Of course, things have changed a lot since Lambert made the biggest bet in his career: the $12 billion acquisition of Sears.
He used to quietly influence the company. -
By vacating management from his seat in the conference room and not complying with financial discipline.
Now, he has played a positive role in managing Sears Holdings, which has freed him from his past self and from Buffett's influence.
Buffett also tends to buy
Market leader-such as Wal-Mart (
Whose stock did he buy last year?
Instead of being victims of oppression like Kmart and Sears.
Buffett said: "I would rather skip one
Six-foot hurdles
"The foot bar," Lambert said . ".
"We 'd rather skip one. The foot bar is also
But it's hard to find a chance.
So I'm willing to involve more companies with poor performance.
Eddie's rules on becoming an activist-notactivist--
Investor: "You don't need to completely change an industry or a company in order to make money.
Normally, you need to change the way capital is allocated, and maybe you need to change the salary target.
I would rather do these things than in public.
Many managers said: "In terms of capital expenditure, the rule of thumb is this: we spend X every year.
"It was written into the plan.
Do you know who's good? The consumer.
That's no problem.
But my job is to provide value to investors.
The remuneration committee divides the remuneration into four digits.
No board wants to pay people in the fourth quarter, but someone has to be there.
If your performance is in the fourth place, then maybe your salary should be in the fourth place.
The Wall Street Guide: "The world is just unpredictable and not enough to provide income guidance.
The general wisdom is that you set guidance on a level you can beat, so surprises are good.
Or you sell something for $2 on June29.
2 million even if you could have gotten $2.
July1. 5 million.
The reporter linked Julia Bostin to Joan Levinstein.