Kiger's Notebook

IBM 2Q earnings coming - what do you want to know?

On Thursday, IBM will kick out its 2 quarter earnings report. This means the standard press release and numbers.

To change things up a bit, I thought I'd check in with the astute readers of this blog. What do you want to know about IBM's 2Q earnings report? What are your questions?

Let me know. It is possible I might be able to get them answered.

Here's an interesting preview tidbit from the Associated Press about IBM's upcoming report. It might help inspire some questions.

• Why it's important: As one of the world's largest corporate technology suppliers, IBM's results say a lot about how much businesses are willing to spend on everything from computer servers to software and consulting services. But it can be tricky to read those results for clues about the broader economy. 

For one thing, IBM right now is booking revenue on contracts that may have been signed months or even years ago. Second, in a down economy, companies often turn to IBM's outsourcing services as a way to save money, so IBM's sales can go up even while everything else is going down.

The best way to interpret IBM's results for signs of the health of the overall economy is in the company's overall forecast.

• What the experts say: On average, analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect IBM to earn $2.02 per share on $23.58 billion in revenue. In the same quarter of last year, the company reported a profit of $1.98 per share on revenue of $26.8 billion.

• You'll know the economy is improving if: IBM's sales show some improvement that can't be attributed mainly to weakness in the dollar. Another encouraging sign would be if the company raises its already-bullish forecast for $9.20 per share in profit in 2009.

• You'll know the economy is not improving if: IBM backs off the forecast at all.

• The quote: Brian Marshall, an analyst with Broadpoint.AmTech, wrote in a research note Thursday that IBM's management has "navigated the turbulent "economic currents" over the past decade with fine stewardship," but cautioned there might be little room left for IBM to keep wringing out increases in its profit margin.

Used cars + ex-Pump and Munch

Cars are coming back to the closed BP Pump and Munch at 6650 East U.S. 14.

A used car dealership is leasing the space, taking it over from owner Kato Inc.

After closing multiple Pump and Munches, Kato has only one left in Rochester: the one at 1607 S. Broadway.

For now, that is.

Plans for WorkOut World #2 + Ex-Rainbow Foods window

After months of talk with no action, a blueprint for a WorkOut World fitness center has been posted in the front window of the long-empty, former Rainbow Foods in Rochester’s Maplewood Square shopping center.

However, a Realtor lock is still clamped on the door and the “For Lease” signs are still up.

People who have been in the Med-City for a while will remember that Rainbow Foods closed its two Rochester stores in Mayo of 2003. I'd say it is largest space that has been empty that long.

The ex-Carson Pirie Scott at Miracle Mile long held the record for top real estate white elephant for many years until HOM Furniture re-vamped it for a new store.

RAEDI + Inventors & Entrepreneurs Club

This is interesting. Rochester Area Economic Development, Inc. - you know, RAEDI - is launching an Inventors & Entrepreneurs Club.

Unfortunately, I've been out of the mix for a bit and have not gotten the info about the informational meeting slated for Thursday at 6 p.m. out yet.

So here's some of the release that RAEDI pumped out. This does seem like an intriguing concept.

 RAEDI will hold an  I&E Club meeting on Thursday, July 9, at 6 p.m., in the Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce Board Room, 220 South Broadway, Rochester, Minnesota.  Guest speaker for the first meeting will be Terry Whipple, Executive Director for Juneau County Economic Development Corporation.  Whipple was instrumental in the development of an I&E Club in Juneau County, Wisconsin, and will discuss the advantages of starting an I&E Club in the Rochester area. 
 
The purpose in developing this club is to provide opportunity for inventors and entrepreneurs to learn the proper steps to explore their ideas, be supported and motivated by their peers, tap into a vast network of like minded people, and get direction toward needed resources as quickly as possible.   

Gary Smith, President of RAEDI said, “Launching of the club is another step towards sustaining our area’s vibrant and supportive entrepreneurial culture.  We have a number of area resource providers including RAEDI, the Small Business Development Center, SCORE and local Chambers of Commerce among others who provide direct services to entrepreneurs.  The I&E Club adds a new dimension where inventors and entrepreneurs can interact not only with the service providers but fellow inventors and entrepreneurs as well.  In the end, we hope to create a forum for those with ideas for new products, goods or services and surround them with a supportive and nurturing environment that ultimately leads to new business formation, job creation, and increased tax base.” 
 
This club will meet monthly once it is established.  The club is opened to all interested persons.  Please contact RAEDI at 507-288-0208 if you would like more information or plan to attend.

  

Yes, Betsy back on TV… on KAAL?

Wow, I need to keep up on my TV watching more. Been letting my reading the classic books of world literature (and playing video games with my kids) occupy too much of my time. Heh.

It appears that Betsy Singer, the former nightly news co-anchor on KTTC, is back on the air. However, she is on KTTC rival KAAL ABC Six.

Several people have already commented on this (Some not very kindly. Remember, if you can't say anything nice, remember to include your full name and e-mail address) on this blog right after the 6 p.m. newscast.

This could be a temporary fill-in kind of deal for Singer, while the KAAL news team recovers from the all-night tornado coverage. It could be new gig. Or it could be something else.

I'll see what I can find out. 

Mayo + MOA memo and more

Here's the internal memo about Mayo's Mall of America news this afternoon.

P-B Reporter Matt Russell did a great job as the first  journalist to report this. His piece clearly explained this project in depth.

Here's the Mayo Clinic memo that rolled out around 2 p.m. this afternoon.

Mayo Clinic will announce today that it has signed a letter of intent to be part of the phase two expansion of Mall of America.  Over the next 12 months, Mayo Clinic will define how this new facility will complement Mayo’s existing presence in Minnesota.

Mall of America expansion plans call for an enhanced experience for visitors, including retail, office space and business center, lodging, entertainment options and cultural attractions, among others, which will be located north of the existing mall.  This concept, along with Mall of America’s annual draw of more than 40 million national and international visitors, is a natural fit for Mayo Clinic.

The Mall of America location will be an ideal opportunity to provide a gateway to services for Mayo patients in Minnesota and across the country.  Opening Mayo Clinic to a broader marketplace will help meet the needs of an increased number of patients from around the country and world and will present opportunities to share Mayo Clinic with more people.  It also is one of many ways Mayo Clinic will position itself for future growth and transformation of its practice, while bringing Mayo care to a broader audience beyond its campuses.

Initial concepts call for care delivery models that will help Mayo reach patient audiences outside its existing patient population.  Services provided through a presence at the Mall of America will enhance services offered at Mayo Clinic, not replicate them.   
“Mall of America provides an opportunity to offer patient services outside of traditional care models as well as enhancing convenience and connectivity to Mayo Clinic,” says Glenn Forbes, M.D., CEO, Mayo Clinic Rochester.  “Mayo Clinic’s presence at the Mall of America will align with Mayo’s goal of being a destination medical center.  The Mall of America draws more than 40 million visitors per year from more than 30 countries, as well as nationwide.  Likewise, Mayo Clinic is an international destination, so this is a natural link for us.”

Some initial, possible concepts for Mayo’s new facility include, but are not limited to:

* New models for screening and prevention:  Focus on testing, counseling and screening with prevention plan development.

* Health care services for Mall of America guests: A place where guests can access primary and some secondary care services, and have access to tests and trials testing new methods of treatment.
* Services for new and returning Mayo Clinic patients:  Helping patients with access, appointments, logistics and other questions related to Mayo Clinic services.  This might include programs that ease/speed access to core Mayo Clinic programs, such as transplant, and comprehensive programs that meet the unique needs of international patients.
* Education/input opportunities:  Unique, new ways to get broad input around new models for delivering care to patients, as well as new products and service prototypes; and an opportunity to deliver health education to the public.

“Mayo Clinic innovations throughout the years have transformed the practice of medicine,” says David Herman, M.D., Mayo Clinic’s director of Employee and Community Health.  “Mayo’s strength has been focusing on the needs of the patient while continually searching for ways to improve care delivery.”

“This project builds on that Mayo tradition of innovation and focusing on the needs of the patient,” Dr. Forbes says.  “Mayo always creates greater value for patients by developing care delivery models based on what patients want and need.”
 

 

The Mark of Z in S.W. Roch.

Here's a tidbit to keep an eye on:

• This week’s buzz is heavy on the Zzzzs.

Look for a flavorful local business to make its mark on southwest Rochester soon, just like a masked hero with a sword.

And to add to this recipe the opportunity for bringing back spice and vitality to a spot previously known as being green. That was before it blackened and withered away.

I.R.S. wins this round against Mayo Clinic

A battle that has been raging across the countryside and tearing through courtrooms at every level has once again been joined after a years long pause in appeals court.

A decision was kicked out by the Eighth Circuit of Appeals this afternoon that reverses earlier court decisions in a dispute between Mayo Clinic/ U. of Minn. and the IRS over medical interns.

This round goes to IRS deciding interns are employees, not students. And that means they are subject to tax rules.

This has gone back and forth for a long time even with Mayo suing the IRS for reimbursement and the IRS accidently sending a $4 million check to Mayo. 

That's understandable, of course. I do that all the time, accidently write $4 million checks and mail them off. Heh.

A fight for the return of the check followed and then some other stuff. Amid all of that legal and tax chaos, the U of M. became embroiled in a similar tussle with the IRS.

So similar the cases were rolled together and shipped to the appeals court.

Here's some from today's ruling:

Mayo and the University concede, as the district court recognized, that the prior
regulation limiting the student exception to services “incident to and for the purpose
of pursuing a course of study” is a permissible interpretation of the statutory student
exception. In the notice of proposed rulemaking, the IRS set forth a lengthy, detailed,
historically accurate explanation of why “IRS and Treasury believe that Congress has
shown the specific intent to provide social secuity coverage to individuals who work
long hours, serve as highly skilled professionals, and typically share some or all of the
terms of employment of career employees, particularly medical residents and interns.”

69 Fed. Reg. 8604 at 8608. We conclude that this interpretation of the student 

exception, while not the only permissible interpretation, does not conflict with the
plain language of the statute, and is consistent with the origin and purpose of the
student exception as initially enacted and with Congress’s frequent expansion of
Social Security coverage in the last fifty years. We do not doubt -- indeed we applaud
-- the educational benefits of the medical residency programs offered by Mayo and by
the University. We do not rule that medical residents are not “students” or are not
“enrolled” or are not “regularly attending classes” for other purposes. But we
conclude that the full-time employee regulation is a permissible interpretation of the
statutory student exception and therefore, in the tax periods in question, the residents’
compensation for health care and patient services was subject to FICA taxes.

Is U.S. Rep. Pat Kennedy coming back here for rehab?

Three years ago, U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy made a highly public trip to Mayo Clinic in Rochester for help with an addiction to prescription drugs.

That brought a crowd of national media swooping into the North Country, because Kennedy was big news following a late night car accident.

Now Kennedy, the son of Ted Kennedy, is announcing that he needs to return to rehab again.

The question, for a noisy son-of-a-gun like myself is, does that mean he is coming back here?

He had previously been here before the big deal in May of 2006. It seems logical that he'd be come back here.

Has anyone had any sightings out there? Is there any indiction he is going elsewhere? 

Share them, if you've got them.

Downtown Roch. tidbit # 2 - It's red

After months of clawing to confirm a tale about the future of a Rochester downtown eatery, the shell is finally cracked.

It is true.

Red Lobster plans to move from its longtime home in the Rosa Parks Plaza at South Broadway and Second Street to the former home of Romano’s Macaroni Grill on the west side of Apache Mall.

“Yes. It is true. We’ll be going out there,” says Tom Mickelson, the general manager of Rochester’s Red Lobster.

No other details are hammered out yet. It is not decided if the building that the Mac Grill left in March 2008 will be remodeled or torn down and replaced.

Mickelson estimates it might not be until spring 2010 or even later when he and his crew begin serving lobster in the shadow of the mall.

“We’ve still got two years on our lease,” he says. Mayo Clinic is the landlord, and there is no word on how that space might be used once the Lobster is out of the shell.

The pic is from Chad Johnson's Flickr album. Very cool Rochester shots.