Updated. Gannett shares closed at $14.98 today, down 1.3%, after powering back from a hair-raising tumble earlier in the day. GCI had traded as low as $13.89, a price not seen in well over a decade.Shares had touched new lows when trading resumed in the morning -- the first trading day after GCI's 6.8% tumble on Friday. Following another broad global selloff despite new moves by the Federal Reserve, GCI is now down 67% from a year ago. That is more than twice the 32% decline in the widely watched S&P-500 Index, a broad barometer of overall stock market activity.
Overseas, trading had started on a grim note in Asia and here in Europe, the Associated Press says: "Asian and European stock markets plunged Monday as government bank bailouts in the U.S. and Europe failed to alleviate fears that the global financial crisis would depress world economic growth."
GCI's fall today comes as a newly indebted Gannett heads into uncharted waters. "Headline News just mentioned Gannett on a list of troubled companies on air (with GM, a couple others),'' Anonymous@7:08 a.m. said here today. "First time I've heard anything outside the print media on the company's troubles."
What percentage of your 401(k) account is now in Gannett shares? Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write gannettblog[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the green sidebar, upper right.
[Image: Google Finance]
I began withdrawing my Gannett stock and moving it to other investments when the value dropped below $18. I had a very conservative investing strategy, and the constant loss, loss, loss was too discouraging.
ReplyDeleteI sold all Gannett shares in my 401(k) -- a pile that had been accumulating since 1991 -- in early 2004, when the stock was around $90. I planned to buy it back when it got cheaper.
ReplyDeleteBut more than four years later, it still hasn't plateaued at a bottom. Years from now, I hope I'm proved wrong about that decision -- that Gannett's stock will have stabilized and begun rising again.
I sell it all as I get it and transfer it to other funds.
ReplyDeleteI've been buying Out of the Money Put Options.....they keep getting IN THE MONEY
ReplyDeleteJim wrote, "GCI's stock recently traded for $14.14, down another 7% -- a price not seen since 1985, Google Finance says."
ReplyDeletehttp://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl
shows that $14.14 in 2007 is $6.95 in 1985.
A rough table
Year Inflation
Adjusted
2007 $14.14
1985 $ 6.95
1980 $ 5.32
1975 $ 3.47
1970 $ 2.50
It hit $13.90, and is declining at the pace of more than $1 an hour. That's in real time, not adjusted for inflation or deflation. That $1.2 billion loan shows how much trouble the company is in. Corporate has a lot of 'splaining to do, since they have said GCI was solid. We are in real trouble.
ReplyDeleteWhen I left McClatchy as they were selling the Mpls. Star Tribune 18 months ago, I sold the MNI shares in my 401(k) for around $40. A lot of them had been bought for $50-60, so I took a hit. But with the stock now around $4 a share, $40 doesn't look so bad.
ReplyDeleteI claim no special wisdom -- it just seemd logical to sell the stock since I was no longer going to be with the company. In no way did I foresee McClatchy losing 90% of its value in the next 18 months.
At what price point would GCI be considered a buy?
ReplyDeleteYou could buy GCI for $3.2 billion at this point. Wait another month, and it will be much cheaper after they report how miserable were 3rd quarter revenues. Earnings per share are already negative 7 percent. As the recession bites, that negative figure is going to go way up, and the stock price will collapse even more. So if I were interested in buying GCI, I would wait until it is much cheaper, then break it apart into individual newspapers and sell off the pieces. That's not hype. The Craig Dubrow regime seems determined to drive the stock down to the point where it will be so cheap someone is going to want the company.
ReplyDeleteI feel very luck that I got out when the stock was at $40 a share. Or course, I know former Gannettoids who sold it when it was in the 90s.
ReplyDeleteOh well...
Maybe as much as 10% in Gannett stock. I have been transferring Gannett stock out over the years.
ReplyDeleteJim, check that 1985 price. I sold gannett stock in 1985 and it was about $66 a share in July. Could it have started the year at $14? or maybe it went to $14 after a 3 for 1 split. Things are bad enough without misstating the facts.
ReplyDeleteGoogle Finance showed the 1985 data. But it's now not clear to me that its data is adjusted for splits, so I've removed that reference.
ReplyDelete