Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Stock dives 6%; market cap teeters on knife's edge

Gannett shares closed at $4.57 today, in a broad market meltdown that sent the company's value skittering down to $1.04 billion, Google Finance says. If shares fall another 19 cents, GCI's market cap would bust through the psychologically crucial "floor" of $1 billion.

17 comments:

  1. Shares outstanding: 228,120,000
    Market cap: $1B

    Share price would be: $4.38

    Scott

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  2. July 15, 2005
    CD starts tenure as CEO
    Stock opened at $72.66

    July 27, 2005
    High water mark during tenure
    Stock trades at $74.64
    Shares outstanding: 246,256,000
    Market Cap: $18.4B

    February 10, 2009
    Low water mark during tenure
    Stock trades at $4.51
    Shares outstanding: 228,121,000
    Market Cap: $1.03

    Loss of shareholder value: 94.4%
    Loss in stock price: 93.96%


    Scott

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  3. Thank goodness for McClatchy:

    July 15, 2005
    High water mark during CD tenure (very interesting... same day as hire for CD)
    Stock trades at $66.32
    Shares outstanding: 86,342,000
    Market Cap: $5.7B

    February 10, 2009
    Low water mark during tenure
    Stock trades at $.55
    Shares outstanding: 82,500,000
    Market Cap: $45M

    Loss of shareholder value: 99.2%
    Loss in stock price: 99.2%

    In essence, Gannett has done close to 5% better than MNI.

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  4. The bottomline is that regardless of the economic downtown Craig should be held accountable for this failure in stock price. It is a reflection of his leadership style. And trust me, for some time I was a fan of DuBow. But not now. It's time to him to go. Period. With the economic meltdown factored in, GCI should be trading around $15 at the lowest.

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  5. Wow........ 4.57

    Play taps.

    In any reasonably responsible company, the CEO would have been fired, along with most, if not all of the Board. And it would have been done long ago.

    How pathetic, pitiful and hilarious.

    Isn't this an example of the phrase: "A pall hangs over the room."

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  6. 4:38 Not with this debt load. They had a golden opportunity when the stock was at 70 to lower this debt level by floating more stocks to get rid of some of it. Now the stock is this low, they are trapped. It is an economic disaster Dubow brought on himself with his terrible management decisions.

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  7. Reminds me of the old saying: "Can you expect the people, who got us into this messs, get us out of this mess?"

    The short answer: I don't think so.

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  8. Track CD's net worth against Gannett's market cap. 100 percent inversed.

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  9. My God.....I'm so glad I was let go.

    Too bad Craig. Boy, you've really done a great job there.



    Suck on it!

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  10. Hey 5:47....

    Here's some business 101 for you...
    Companies don't "float" stock in favor of debt. For one, it dilutes the value of shares already outstanding and two, the interest on debt is tax deductible, whereas there is no such benefit for issuing stock. Also, look up "signaling theory" as it relates to economics and stock. For investors, a company's issuing of new stock is a signal of problems.

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  11. I'm just happy that scumbag I worked for gets stock options for a bonus.

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  12. Drive the company into the ground boys. I hope my old publsher is living in a box under a bridge. Heres to you Mr. Albrecht.

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  13. And instead of using the robust cash flow during Dublow's early years to pay down debt, what does he do? Buys Gannett stock at a premium. Companies buy back stock when it's undervalued. Gannett was never undervalued. It was always afforded a higher p/e than its newspaper/media peers, despite the poor quality of its newspapers. Gannett would be much better off today had Dublow used precious cash to lower the debt instead of sucking up to Wall Street by trying to drive up the stock price artificially through buybacks.

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  14. Dubow and his cast of bumbling buffoons shouldn't have been in charge of a paper route, never mind an entire media company. Congratulations. The only thing that ever sank faster was the Arizona at Pearl Harbor.

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  15. Other than hanging around for a 33% dividend - which needs to go, why would anyone want a stock that appears destined to go down?

    - Market cap now $1.1 billion.
    - Long Term Debt $3.8 billion.
    - Pension under-funded $600 million (so what if Matore can defer).
    - Write downs likely nearing $5 billion
    - Total revenues continue to shrink.
    - Services where Gannett should excel, be the low cost provider are terminated and/or outsourced to others who profit from them.
    - Newspapers - company’s cash cows, are noticeably gutted of value to paying customers, yet company charges them more for far less.
    - Most, if not all content, is online for free anyway.
    - Gannett’s top execs take spoils as always, but given haphazard layoffs and furloughs, these moves damage employee morale more than ever before.
    - Other Gannett execs who want out can’t as their phamton shares are worthless, and besides there’s no real place for them to go.
    - And, a hand-picked board that’s shows no signs of a leadership, dividend change.
    - Hell, even Gannett's reporting continues to spell economic doom, further deepening consumers fears. And, in an economy that thrives on two-thirds consumerism that will hardly help turn things around, let alone Gannett’s dwindling fortunes.

    Sadly, not a great story to be told or investment to be made.

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  16. 8:32

    Well said! I don't see another direction of the stock price other than downward.

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Jim says: "Proceed with caution; this is a free-for-all comment zone. I try to correct or clarify incorrect information. But I can't catch everything. Please keep your posts focused on Gannett and media-related subjects. Note that I occasionally review comments in advance, to reject inappropriate ones. And I ignore hostile posters, and recommend you do, too."

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