Aspreva Pharmaceuticals Drip Drip Drip (Nasdaq:ASPL)

Aspreva Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq:ASPL, TSX:ASV) knows how to tease the investment community with the drip method. They announce on Feb 1 something called preliminary results and let some sales figures out. In the same release they announce that on Feb 8 full results will be released. Hmmm talk about seeding or is it juicing the ball.

Alcatel promises Dividends? (NYSE:ALA)

Alcatel (NYSE:ALA) is promising to perhaps declare a dividend at its annual meeting on June 1, 2006. Serge Tchuruk Chairman and CEO is rightfully proud at significant improvements at Alcatel. But signaling to the market that maybe there will be a dividend declared five months from now puts the proverbial cart in front of the corporate donkey. Is this dividend promised and corporate governance be damned? Do boards of directors declare not dividends after sober review of the company’s financials? Am I too old school?

Google Tax Rate reflects International Growth

Google (Nasdaq:GOOG) reports their tax rate was higher than expected as more costs were allocated to international activities. The press release distributed by googlepress@googlegroups.com left out any financial statements. The company’s own web site included the same press release with financial statements, but did not provide international segmentation. International revenues now account for approximately 38% and new cost allocation impacts drive tax rates. Its time management breaks this out for all to see. The company laments that the actual Q4 taxes are over 40% but give guidance for 2006 at 30%. Given the importance of international growth to keep this company going I am skeptical. I should not have to be an international tax expert to understand where this company is going.

Adobe's Limited Time Offer (Nasdaq:ADBE)

Adobe (Nasdaq:ADBE) announces a daylong analyst day, which will also be webcast. Fair enough not everyone can make it to the meeting and besides its going to be somewhere in the range of 7 to 8 hours. (I know I’m not going) But then the webcast archive will only be available for 15 days. Can investors coming to this stock after that time frame have the benefit of the insights this meeting is to provide in some manner?

Asensio challenges KFx pictures (Amex:KFX)

KFx Inc (Amex: KFX) has incurred the wrath of Asensio, a highly regarded and usually laser accurate short seller. Asensio has taken offense to several pictures on a KFx web based slide show, claiming that the pictures are an inaccurate portrayal. I’ll let you check out www.asensio.com and www.kfx.com and come to your own conclusions. Investors need to be careful not only with the verbiage but also the graphical and pictorial impressions companies choose to make. Can pictures be filed with the SEC under disclosure regulations?

Creative 8K wording award to Scolr Pharma (AMEX:DDD)

Creative 8K wording was recently brought to my attention. Scolr (Nasdaq:DDD) announced in mid Dec that their CFO had discontinued service. What does discontinued service mean. You can resign, get fired, retire, become incapacitated or die or perhaps your contract would not be renewed; but what does discontinued service mean. Soon we will be seeing press releases that certain executives do not play in a specific sandbox anymore. Company has not responded for over a week. SEC says they do not comment publicly about client filings. But I guess they know now! The question is what do investors need to know. Appreciate the tips and insights from my readers.

Weekend Follies Jan 28-29, 2006 features Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT)

Three culprits this weekend. Light haul but a real bold release from Lockheed Martin. But first the two minor incidents Koor Industries (NYSE:KOR) and Teva Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq:TEVA). The main event was Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) who announced well after market close and well into Friday evening when most are not looking not one but two major press releases. The last announcement covers a 2 billion dollar USAF contract to build network missions operations system. The announcement crossed the wire at 2040 ET Jan 27. My question is why so late?1` Governments and agencies do not release so late on a Friday evening. Who knew what and when? This on the same day that a new SVP Finance has been appointed (Mary Margaret VanDeWeeghe reporting to the EVP and CFO Christopher Kubasik). How long was this news around before it was released. The press release was a simply worded document and not hard to draft.