20110815-NEWS--1-NAT-CCI-CL_--
8/12/2011
2:41 PM
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$2.00/AUGUST 15 - 21, 2011
VOL. 32, NO. 33
Insiders see slide as opportunity to buy Officers, directors snatch up shares before and amid last week’s gyrations At a time when many investors have scurried to sell, a number of Northeast Ohio company insiders have hurried to buy. In the days before, during and after last Monday’s stock market plunge,
Cliffs Natural Resources (CLF)
Olympic Steel Inc. (ZEUS)
Closing price, July 22: $99.86 Closing price, Aug. 9: $73.71 ■ Change: -26%
By CHUCK SODER csoder@crain.com
NEWSPAPER
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A less-than-enthusiastic group of Invacare Corp. engineers delivered what seemed like bad news. They had come up with a design that could improve the stability and agility of Invacare’s newest power wheelchair. Then they found out that an Australian company called Roller Chair already had a patent on it. Invacare CEO Gerald Blouch encouraged them to look on the bright side. “I said, ‘That’s the bad news. You know what the good news is? We own Roller Chair,’” said Mr. Blouch,
Blouch
Closing price, July 22: $48.76 Closing price, Aug. 9: $35.94 ■ Change: -26%
Buyers: ■ Aug. 5, Richard T. Marabito, chief financial officer: 2,000 shares ($49,580) ■ Aug. 5, Michael D. Siegal, chairman of the board/CEO: 1,500 shares ($37,185)
Invacare’s ‘One’ aimed at streamlined output
Stumpp
recalling the meeting from a few years back. For decades, Invacare’s business units all over the world have operated almost as if they were separate companies. The result: They sold a bunch See INVACARE Page 10
INSIDE Getting fit while at the office More companies are incorporating wellness programs and fitness centers into their facilities as a way to keep employees healthy and happy and, in turn, cutting health care costs. Read Dan Shingler’s story in our Health and Wellness section. Page 13
Buyers: ■ Aug. 8, Frank C. Sullivan, director: 3,000 shares ($99,660) ■ Aug. 8, John M. Ballbach, director: 1,000 shares ($36,560)
Energy companies rush to Ohio’s oil, promise billions Discovery in shale follows area’s natural gas boom By DAN SHINGLER dshingler@crain.com
Imagine tens of billions of dollars of private capital being invested in Ohio. Now stop imagining and keep reading, because a large oil and gas company says that’s exactly what’s about to happen thanks to a recent discovery of huge oil reserves in the shale rock beneath the eastern half of the state. How huge? Enough that $200 billion likely will be invested in the
Buckeye State over the next 20 years, predicts the man running the largest energy company working on Ohio’s shale. “When’s the last time any industry showed up and said, ‘I’m going to invest $10 billion a year in a state for a couple of decades?’ I think that’s about what’s going to happen in Ohio,” Chesapeake Energy Corp. CEO Aubrey McClendon recently told CNBC stock picker Jim Cramer. Oklahoma City-based Chesapeake and other companies have been See OIL Page 7
Looking to save money on your health insurance? Look inside for more details...
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See BUY Page 17
Timken Co. (TKR)
Closing price, July 22: $28.80 Closing price, Aug. 9: $20.73 ■ Change: -28%
Buyers: ■ Aug. 1, P. Kelly Tompkins, executive vice president: 2,500 shares ($223,000) ■ Aug. 2, Andres Gluski, director: 1,130 shares ($99,911)
directors and officers of companies including Cliffs Natural Resources Inc., Olympic Steel Inc. and Timken Co. have bought tens, and sometimes hundreds, of thousands of dollars of their companies’ stock. Among them were P. Kelly Tompkins, a Cliffs executive, who bought
LAUREN RAFFERTY ILLUSTRATION
By MICHELLE PARK mpark@crain.com