Hi liberfar,

I'm still around observing the chatter. My long-term investment position is intact as is Whole Foods fundamental story. Fluctuations from quarter to quarter are irrelevant to a long-term investor such as myself. Mr. Market's manic/depressive behavior on Whole Foods recently has been interesting to watch but doesn't really matter over the long-term.

It was inevitable that Whole Foods same store sales would regress back to their long-term average of 8%. Since the company will be comparing against 10%+ same store sales for the next 3 quarters I don't expect either the comparisons to be very strong (Whole Foods management has guided this way as well) or the stock price to gain very much (unless the stock market itself carries it up with a Bull Market which it might).

What is the most interesting thing to me is that Whole Foods is building up its real estate pipeline at a rapid clip. 12 new store leases announced in the last 2 quarters and over 1.2 million sq. ft. of real estate in development. Growth will be accelerating again beginning next year. If the stores in development are good ones (and new leases keep being added at the same rate) then Whole Foods is going to be increasing both its top and bottom lines at a 15% to 20% for the next 5 years. If so, then the stock price will likely double in 4 to 5 years. Good enough for me!