Still, investor reaction was perhaps not as strong as would be expected for such a stream of unexpectedly good news aimed at pleasing stockholders. GCI traded as high as $16.26 earlier in the day before sliding back. Indeed, the shares remain below their 52-week high of $17.03.
Wall Street is a tough crowd. On July 18, for example, when GCI doubled its dividend, the stock actually fell 3.5% by the end of the day.
[Chart: Google Finance]
Here's the deal. It's easy to dismiss this, especially among those who invested in the company, my employer at the time, when stock was valued at $80-$90 a share.
ReplyDeleteSaid employee took a huge hit not just with the recession (never once mentioned actually at work) but with a really crappy product soon forthcoming courtesy of top-down ill-informed orders rather than sticking by bottom-up, on-the-ground creativity.
Did I dump my stock?
No. Coworkers did. My managers did. Their supervisors did. The kings of their little personal ego trips announced their wisdom with quite the measure of gloating.
Great example by the company's managers. Top notch. These were guys and gals on the fast schmooze track WITHIN Gannett.
Investing in one's own company should be voluntary but to openly mock it should be cause for concern.
Obviously I'm no wunderkind with such matters. And I dumped the stock, sure... but only after Gannett disappeared my career, never while I was working there.
Yet an uptick from worthless stock to not-as-worthless stock is celebrated.
It's pathetic. Wall Street "likes" this hiccup just about as much as a colonoscopy ... now with just a few polyps.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete