That was the final price moments ago, as investors pounded the company's beleaguered stock in a rising panic over Gannett's crumbling finances. Shares have fallen 54% in the past 30 days vs. a 13% decline for the broader S&P-500 index, according to Google Finance. The company's total market value, meanwhile, has now plunged to $739 million, exactly two weeks after falling below the $1 billion threshold.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Urgent: GCI shares plummet 9%, closing at $3.24
That was the final price moments ago, as investors pounded the company's beleaguered stock in a rising panic over Gannett's crumbling finances. Shares have fallen 54% in the past 30 days vs. a 13% decline for the broader S&P-500 index, according to Google Finance. The company's total market value, meanwhile, has now plunged to $739 million, exactly two weeks after falling below the $1 billion threshold.
14 comments:
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2 bucks! 2 bucks! 2 bucks! 2 bucks!
ReplyDeleteI have said it on this blog before, and I will say it again:
ReplyDeleteManage your career!
Gannett has and will continue to cut staff, cut products and attempt to pull out of its nosedive by trying all kinds of initiatives. Whether it will succeed or not, neither I nor you have any real clue.
But you can and should have your exit strategy well in hand. What career could you transition into? Are you saving money, reducing debt, assembling the resources you will need?
Adjusted for INFLATION $3.24 is lowest price since GANNETT went Public in 1967.
ReplyDeleteGreat work you smiling dolts....(Board & Executives - (great pictures in the annual report)). Phenomenal anticipatory management skills. Almost Jedi-like.
Something to consider when we hear Craig and Gracia use the excuses about the "Economy" hurting Gannett;
ReplyDelete04-05-2004 GCI= $90.00
10-09-2007 GCI= $45.00
Decline of 50%
04-05-2004 Dow Jones Ind Ave 10,558
10-09-2007 Dow Jones Ind Ave 14,043
Increase of 33%
02-27-2009 GCI= $3.28
02-27-2009 Dow Jones Ind Ave 7,120
$10,000 Invested on 04-05-2004 would be worth today:
GCI = $364.44
Dow Jones Ind Ave $6,743.70
4:52 You are so right. I don't think Corporate can pull out of this nosedive. They have lost all control. The $300 million lost in market value in the last two weeks soaks up the $325 million they saved by cutting the dividend. They are determined to drive this stock lower, and invite someone (Arab investors) to take over GCI. But no one is interested. What does that tell you?
ReplyDeletethanks Gary....thanks Sue...oh and hey Bobby...you too.
ReplyDeleteI give you all credit for one thing though....you saw it coming and split.
To those so happy and relieved that they had their jobs when others (including mine) were cut, probably aren't feeling too safe right now. And, rightfully so. You aren't safe - never were. It's just a matter of time before you find yourselves out looking for a job that's nowhere to be found.
ReplyDeleteI was actually lucky. I was able to find a decent job that I'm VERY happy doing. And I now work for people that not only care but are glad that I'm there.
It's just a matter of time.
Is there a critical point in which the stock drops so low that the very existence of the company is more than just threatened? Is there a number or range of numbers where extinction of GCI is certain?
ReplyDeletePlease give me a real answer, if you know it, and not just a response like the idiot in the first comment on this posting.
Thanks.
"Manage your career!"
ReplyDeleteTranslated into non-Gannettspeak, that means, "GET THE HELL OUT, NOW!"
The GMC has one person the board should look at to lead the Company: Kurt Wimmer. I promise you this guy is incredibly competent and has a vision that is different and better than others on the GMC, including the CEO. He does not have the baggage the others have... Kurt is brilliant, polite, humble, even tempered and one of the best legal and business minds in the USA. Gannett Blog--do some homework--see for yourself.
ReplyDelete6:15 pm: Based on my limited experience, I concur with you on Wimmer.
ReplyDelete5:56...there is no magic number to identify a financial-economic point of no return for a company. Please consider that NONE of the analysts covering Gannett saw this coming in this way.
ReplyDeleteYou should use long-term trendlines of financial data for internal analysis of the subject firm, industry analysis (like I.B.D. does) to determine the strength of the firm's industry group, and macro-economic data to determine the overall economic environment the firm is/will be operating in.
All this being said, I have since last summer posted about the Great Depression we are entering; in the context of this economic environment combined with the secular change in the news/information industry (the internet), GANNETT will not survive as a unified entity.Many of it's parts will ultimately be acquired -at firesale prices- and reactivated. But the process of the company dying and being broken up during a Depression will take many many years.
6:58 and 5:56 I disagree with 6:58 Jarvis and Alan Mutter both saw this coming, and were warning companies with large debts they were vulnerable to a protracted slowdown. I did not believe Mutter when he forecast MNI's troubles, but he's looking more than prescient now.
ReplyDeleteI cannot answer you with a specific dollar number for reaching the critical point. But we are now 16 months into this downturn, with likely another 16 to run, and I do not think GCI can continue to see revenues decline at this pace and survive in any form resembling what it did when this all started. If the next 16 months represent the sort of decline we have seen in the last 16 months, then I think you can also see what ruin would come to this company.
Why another 16 months more? The 2001 recession lasted 31 months, and while this one is deeper, it looks like it is following a similar course. I don't have a crystal ball, but there is always a possibility someone could buy the company if it continues to slide in market value, although no one has come forward for MNI, now priced at $36 million for all of those newspapers. Any investor would have to come in with $4 billion to pay off all those debts, which involves sums that only Mexican drug barons control. I don't like to be pessimistic, but I don't see any way out of this mess. We tied our fortunes to the wrong horse.
6:58 HERE: I meant the "Investment" Company analysts that DID NOT put SELL recommendations on the stock as it drifted DOWN, DOWN, DOWN.
ReplyDeleteFortunately, using my own analysis, I bought GCI APRIL $12.50 PUTS for $0.60 in August. I only wish I hadn't sold them in November. I would have banked a 1,200+% Return.
Before anyone get mad at me for anticipating the decline of the company and profiting, I'm only a low level blue-collar type preparing for lay-off.