Defying Conventional Wisdom About Printing

After the dotcom bubble burst, Wall Street analysts and financial lending institutions finally understand our industry. As columnist Harris DeWese reveals in this issue, printers nationwide are reporting difficulty in borrowing money and, to make it even worse, excessive loan origination fees. One fact: despite our smokestack image, the PI/Compass 30—which monthly tracks the largest publicly held printers—has consistently outperformed the S&P 500. We may not be a sexy industry, but printers put in long hours at work, buy expensive capital equipment and pay their bills on time. Why should the graphic arts be penalized for loans to companies that "cooked" their books?