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            B R E A K F A S T   W I T H   T H E   F O O L
                     Tuesday, November 28, 2000

benjamin.rogers@enron.com
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"Bankruptcy is a legal proceeding in which you put your money in
your pants pocket and give your coat to your creditors." -- Joey
Adams


BASSETT HOUNDS
The furniture specialist barks -- and it bites.

By Rick Aristotle Munarriz

Bad news is like sandpaper -- it can wear you down until you're
dull and finished. Bassett Furniture (Nasdaq: BSET) becomes the
latest home furnishings specialist to send out pink slips and
warn of reupholstered financials. Earlier this month,
Furniture.com discontinued operations.
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However, unlike Furniture.com's inability to secure financing to
subsidize losses, Bassett remains profitable despite trying
times in the furniture industry. Higher oil prices make shipping
bulky pieces as costly as it is cumbersome. Even worse, rising
interest rates have slowed the housing market to a crawl.
Without new homes to stock up with new furniture, the industry
becomes as attractive as that hideous barcolounger collecting
dust in your attic. The soft demand now finds Bassett expecting
fourth-quarter earnings per share to come in as much as a dime
below the $0.42 consensus estimate.

To offset the cyclical weakness, the company also announced a
consolidation of its domestic wood manufacturing operations.
Ultimately, 280 workers will be displaced. However, the wood
chuck won't disrupt the company's modest growth plans. The
company is still on track to open 52-65 new Bassett Furniture
Direct and At Home retail stores a year over the long term.

Bassett also won't reduce its dividend. That's welcome news to
yield investors who are drawn to the $0.20 quarterly dividend.
The company's hefty payout -- a 6.8% yield based on yesterday's
close -- will keep the stock from falling too far down.

Selling at just 8-9 times this year's freshly revised earnings
and with savings looking to beef up the bottom line in years
ahead, maybe Bassett isn't howling at the moon. Lowering costs
in domestic production in the face of cheaper Asian imports is a
painful yet necessary step. Like the company itself, the move
will pay nice dividends when housewarming gifts once again line
the porches of suburbia.
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NEWS TO GO

High fiber? Communications infrastructure heavyweight Dycom
(NYSE: DY) reported better-than-expected earnings on a 46% spurt
in profits. The $0.51-a-share showing was seven cents ahead of
analyst estimates. Total contract revenue climbed by 32% for the
quarter. Dycom also named President and CEO Steven Nielsen as
its Chairman, succeeding the retired Thomas Pledger. Nielsen
will wear all three hats. He will also preside over the
company's acquisition of privately held Point to Point
Communications.

Is it Kevorkian or Kerkorian? Billionaire investor Kirk
Kerkorian, DaimlerChrysler's (NYSE: DCX) fifth-largest
shareholder, is suing the car maker for $9 billion. Kerkorian is
all revved up over his claim that the 1998 merger between
Daimler Benz and Chrysler was sold to him as a marriage of
equals. In his view, the European Mercedes Benz parent is
clearly in the driver's seat now. He'd rather play shotgun than
ride shotgun. According to Kerkorian, it was deception that
caused him to submit his 14% stake in Chrysler in favor of the
union.

The good, the bad, and the Covad (Nasdaq: COVD). The struggling
DSL provider has announced layoffs and will be scaling back its
marketing and network expansion costs. The expense reductions
should amount to 20-30% in annual savings beyond the onetime
charge, but that alone won't vault the company to profitability.
Many of the high-speed connection purveyors have had to temper
their expectations in recent months. Earlier, Covad had to
restate third-quarter results when it was having trouble
collecting from deadbeat cash-strapped ISP customers.

Like country, like company. Altera (Nasdaq: ALTR) and AT&T
(NYSE: T) have announced new presidents. There were no dimpled
chads in the board room.

H & R Block (NYSE: HRB) ahead? Pall (NYSE: PLL) bearer? Is ADC
Telecommunications (Nasdaq: ADCT) OK? These are just some of the
questions the market will answer when the companies report
quarterly results today.

Check out yesterday's Foolish market wrap-up with just one click.
http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=214565
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17 INDUSTRIES WORTH A LOOK
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TEN SECRETS TO RETIRING EARLY
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