Investors tired of getting whipsawed by the current stock market gyrations may wish to investigate a stable stock such as PetMed Express (NASDAQ: PETS). Americans currently spend in excess of $40 billion a year on their pets. That figure is expected to rise 12% annually for the next few years as pets fill the void in empty-nester baby boomer households. PetMed Express is sitting on $55 million in cash and NO debt.

At just under $12 per share, PetMed is near its 52-week low. The company recently instituted a $20 million stock buyback program. Latest quarterly and YTD numbers look great. Net sales in 3Q increased 19% to $37.3 million. YTD net sales are up 18% to $148 million. 3Q net income is up a huge 60% to $4.4 million. YTD net income increased 40% to $14 million.

65% of all company orders are placed through the company's website, and online sales continue to increase by volume. Reorder sales increased 28%, meaning more and more pet owners are perfectly comfortable ordering their pets' medication via the internet, just as they do their own.

PetMed Express (PETS) net income up 60% originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 23 Jan 2008 16:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading IDEXX Labs demonstrates there's rarely a recession in pet care

IDEXX Labs demonstrates there's rarely a recession in pet care originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 17 Jan 2008 17:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Circuit City and Kodak team up to find the next 'firedog' originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 15 Nov 2007 15:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

As a dog lover, I have to say that this is one of the most evil scams I've seen in a long time. According to The Consumerist, the latest advance-fee scam works like this:

You're browsing through an online classified ads site like Craigslist, and see a cute little dog available for adoption. You email the poster who replies that there is no fee and that while he hates to see the dog go, the weather in Africa is no good for him. If you could just pay the shipping fee, he'll be happy to send you the dog -- and so you wire him the shipping fee and, you guessed it, never hear from him again. In some cases, he may string you along with more requests for money but, either way, you ain't gettin' the pooch.

These con-artists should have to share a jail cell with Michael Vick.

[Photo from BurningWell.org]

Using puppies to steal your money with advance-fee scams originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 14 Oct 2007 09:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The Michael Vick dog chew toy is so brilliant in its simplicity that I am kicking myself for not having thought of it myself.

I mean, what better way is there for dogs and their owners to register their disgust over the dog-fighting allegations against the Atlanta Falcons quarterback. My hat's off to the anonymous entrepreneurs, who the Atlanta Journal-Constitution says are based in Jacksonville, Florida.

Apparently, the people behind the toy were going to donate the proceeds to the Jacksonville Humane Society but somehow that got messed up because of what the website describes as "squabbling over charitable donations." The toy's makers are promising to donate their proceeds anonymously. I've contacted the website and will let you know if I get a response.

The toy sells for $7.99 and is made out of "state-of-the-art dog material," whatever that means. It also promises to withstand "the most playful of dog destruction."

By the way, there's little if anything that Vick could do to stop the toy since it's satire and clearly doesn't imply his endorsement. The NFL star is learning what many celebrities, including Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie and Lindsay Lohan already know: Fame is a bitch.

Why the Michael Vick dog chew toy is freakin' brilliant originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 07 Aug 2007 14:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Doggie drugs: Will canine pharmaceuticals help Pfizer's bottom line? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 30 Jul 2007 17:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

It's not the men brawling on "Hood Fights, Vol. 2, The Art of The Pit" that caused the outcry, it's the pit bull fighting scenes.

The DVD shows a series bloody dogfighting matches.  The dogs suffer for the sake of human enjoyment, the Humane Society says and claims such staged matches are in violation of federal law that prohibits profiting from the depiction of animal cruelty.  It is unclear if the U.S. attorney had opened an investigation.

Along with eBay, Amazon.com, Circuit City and Best Buy also said they would pull the DVD.

The courts haven't completely cleared up the gray area that would indicate whether or not eBay could be held accountable for sale of illegal items on its site. But regardless, eBay should be vigilant when it comes to the sale of such objectionable material on its site.

If not, trouble and law suits could ensue.  Its own mandate states that "eBay looks to the Federal Trade Commission, the Food and Drug Administration and other regulatory agencies for guidance on items that violate their policies on inappropriate marketing."

Dogfighting DVD on eBay pulled -- finally originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 21 Jun 2006 11:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.