They get away first time, Freeman running conservatively, almost carefully.

"It is conservatively run, but well-positioned to move opportunistically and has little debt."

"Block is a conservatively run company that doesn't shoot from the hip," he said.

"The plan was to run conservatively for two and a half laps and then to see what I could do," he said.

But there have also been large losses in established, and one had thought, more conservatively run, financial institutions.

"Con Edison has always been conservatively run," one person close to the company said.

It is conservatively run, he said, and has a good balance sheet.

While industry analysts applaud the 648-outlet chain for its good food and locations, they say it has been run too conservatively, failing to expand outside California.

With the forecast for temperatures in the high 60's on Sunday, race officials are predicting a conservatively run race.

They sum up their strategy as the "three C's of investing": conservatively run companies with high levels of cash flow and strong competitive advantages.