UMB Scout Stock Earns 5 Stars from Morningstar

Last week Morningstar announced that the UMB Scout Small-Cap Fund earned the prestigious five star ranking.

Scout Small Cap fund manager Dave Bagby has earned fund shareholders 14.64% per year over the past five years, an especially impressive performance in light of the Russell 2000 small cap's 12.59% growth and the Lipper Small Cap index's 13.40% return over the same time period. Even more impressive, UMB Scout Small Cap has earned investors a return of 12.23% per year over the past ten years.

Bagby's performance continues an impressive streak of accolades for UMB Asset Management including Bill Greiner's win in the Business Week Fearless Forecaster competition, and numerous accolades for Jim Moffett's UMB Scout Worldwide Fund.

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H&R Block Beat Up

Company Analysis from Timothy Burger

Elliot Sptizer's office announced this morning that he was filing charges against Kansas City based H&R Block. The charges allege that Block defrauded clients by investing their assets in Block's Express IRAs.

In other news Block clarified the situation surrounding its restatement of state tax liabilities that have delayed the filing of its third quarter 10-Q.

I haven't spent enough time with HRB to recommend it, but when you see a company with a 19% operating margin and 35% ROE drop 6-7% in one day you have to take a serious look at it.

Block has a strong, established brand and sells a product that many people are forced to buy every year, Block is one of only a few businesses that actually benefits when Congress makes the tax code more complex! Block does face strong competition from Jackson Hewitt, and more importantly Intuit's Turbo Tax product.

In addition to Block's core tax preparation business they also have a business services division, as well as a volatile mortgage business and a money losing brokerage division.

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Koch Industries to Acquire Georgia Pacific

Wichita based Koch Industries has announced that it will acquire Georgia Pacific, making Koch the largest private company in the United States.

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Cerner's Mad Money

CNBC's Jim Cramer told viewers today that he thinks Cerner stock is headed to $100 per share.

Cramer made the prediction during the "Lightning Round" segment of his show, Mad Money.

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Good Week for Kansas City Business

Cerner reports a blow out quarter with great earnings.

State Street announces a huge expansion of their downtown Kansas City Mo. operations, adding an estimated 1,000 jobs.

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Cerner Earnings

Kansas City favorite Cerner reports earnings this afternoon. Cerner is at the heart of the transition from the current outdated, dangerous system of paper based medical records to a more modern system, should be an interesting call.

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First Post

Welcome to the Kansas Business Blog, a webpage devoted to Kansas Business News, gossip and ideas.

Feel free to post your ideas regarding anything in business, new venture development, investment opportunities, developing trends in the management of a business.