Morning Links: 7 February 2008

Local plastics plant to grow, Gaylord and CCA top estimates, O'Charley's barely breaks even, NY investor ups stake in Tennessee Commerce to 28%, Lipscomb to test green credentials, and more...

Email | Print By Geert De Lombaerde

A week after La Vergne was on the short end of Whirlpool's cost-cutting initiative, the Nashville operation of specialty plastics company A. Schulman stands to benefit from a similar move. Ohio-based A. Schulman will shut down a plant in Ontario and shift some production to Middle Tennessee. It's not clear how many jobs may be added at the company's Grassmere site.

Gaylord Entertainment beat earnings estimates on the back of solid revenue growth at its hotels. Looking ahead, the company has tweaked its '08 forecasts and will buy back $80 million of its shares – 6 percent of its market cap this morning. Meanwhile, The company is on a recruiting blitz for the D.C.-area complex it will open this spring.

Corrections Corp. of America also beat earnings estimates for the fourth quarter and reiterated its 2008 outlook. The company said it's seeing population growth from Florida to Colorado to Hawaii.

The numbers are not as nice at O'Charley's, where both sales and income fell last quarter and the operating margin fell to 0.8 percent, down from 4 percent a year earlier. The company is adding $20 million to its stock buyback and will continue to overhaul many of its restaurants.

New York money manager Gilde, Gagnon, Howe & Co. bought more than 193,000 shares of Tennessee Commerce Bancorp during the fourth quarter, lifting its stake in the Franklin bank to 28.4 percent. A year ago, its position was an already sizable 16.1 percent.

Dimensional Fund Advisors, the giant California investment firm founded by Nobel laureates, more than doubled its stake in Louisiana-Pacific Corp. during the last three months of 2007 and will show up in the building product supplier's proxy this spring. It will replace another investing giant, which sold big time last quarter.

Lipscomb University is one of almost 100 colleges and universities around the country taking part in a pilot to make their campuses and operations more environmentally sustainable.