Comments on: Debating Whole Foods’ Moat

By: My Take on Cognizant Technology Solutions - Fat Pitch Financials

My Take on Cognizant Technology Solutions - Fat Pitch Financials — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 06:37:15 +0000

[...] Phil Town recently asked for my thoughts on Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTSH). I’m always open to researching companies that I am unfamiliar with, so I decided to take some time tonight to research Cognizant. [...]

By: George

George — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 04:25:16 +0000

Hi Phil -

Thanks for stopping by. I’ll try to take a look at Cognizant tonight and let you know what I think of their moat.

By: Phil Town

Phil Town — Mon, 16 Jan 2006 05:59:59 +0000

Hi Joel,
Got to say that you make sense in your thoughts about WFMI’s moat but time will tell. Meanwhile check out my post on CTSH and let me know if I’m missing anything if Cognizant is on your radar screen. Love your blog,

Phil

By: George

George — Sat, 14 Jan 2006 04:15:04 +0000

Ron and Jeremy thank you for sharing your thoughts on Whole Foods Market.

Jeremy, parking is also a major issue at the Whole Foods in my neighborhood in the Northern Virginia suburbs of DC. I almost got into an accident in the parking lot of one Whole Foods store as someone tried to back out of their parking spot. Now that parking lot has been redesigned and traffic flow is restricted. Isn’t that crazy?

It looks like you are a fellow DC investor. It’s great to meet another DC area investor/personal finance blogger. I hope you enjoyed your visit to Fat Pitch Financials.

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Sat, 14 Jan 2006 03:05:05 +0000

Fist, let me say that I’ve been a WFMI shareholder and shopper since 1996. While I agree that Trader Joe’s is a lower-cost alternative, their product line is much more limited than WFMI. In the northern DC ‘burbs, TJ’s is less of a threat than the Giant (traditional supermarket.) Giant now carries a decent line of organics under the “Nature’s Promise” brand at a lower price than WFMI’s 365. That said, I have to say that our Fresh Fields/WFMI’s biggest threat isn’t competitors, but parking. The situation is so bad that many of my neighbors refuse to even drive near it much less shop there.

By: Ron

Ron — Fri, 13 Jan 2006 06:09:20 +0000

We have a lot of both Whole Foods and Trader Joes stores here in Calif. Trader Joes if I remember correctly grew out of an outfit called Pronto Markets, were bought out a while back, and totally do a great job wherever they go. They are however I don’t believe a competitor of Whole Foods. Our major chains like Safeway have tried their organic thing and still can’t figure out how to do it. The other competitors of Whole Foods out here are either Wild Oats Mkts or the small organic grocerys. So far Whole Foods seems to be much more firmly entrenched. When Whole Foods starts selling Del Monte or Campbells, or Heinz then they will be dead.