Friday, March 31, 2006

Financial Cowardice at Sitel (NYSE:SWW)

Sitel Corp (NYSE:SWW) cannot file its 10-k within the 90-day requirement due to accounting irregularities at an overseas subsidiary. This means technical defaults across the board. How can a large company let it go so long and only let us know in the last minute that there is a major problem and the auditors cannot or will not sign off. Previous reports indicated that restatements would most likely be required so management could see problems. When it’s bad it’s very bad. Governance and control issues seem non-existent.

Thursday, March 30, 2006

International Paper (NYSE:IP) Sells Forestland at what Cost?

International Paper (NYSE:IP) has made a big splash announcement about the sale of huge acreages of Forestland to conservation groups. One small sentence refers to a fiber supply agreement. Additional information has not been provided as to the nature and details of the agreement. The PR optics are good. But is this true conservation? What impact does the shareholder accrue from a fiber supply agreement? The devil is in details! The details are behind closed doors. IP sourced cash but probably has to pay to get the wood back. What are the real economics? Are Gods creatures truly safer today?

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Questions about Crocs (Nasdaq:CROX)

Asensio is not impressed with Crocs (Nasdaq:CROC). They claim that of the recent IPO of 11.4 million shares 6.4 million shares where sold by insiders. The insiders had recently purchased shares for about $0.11. The IPO was priced at $21.00. The intervening time frame is insanely small. There seems to be many questions about how Crocs will deal with hyper competition from cheap brands. Also management claims about proprietary technology are being closely questioned.

Monday, March 27, 2006

Core Mark needs Explaining (Nasdaq:CORE)

Core Mark (Nasdaq:CORE) has a lot of explaining to do. They have to restate their last few years of earnings and the auditors are manning lifeboats and rowing away as quickly as possible. Run do not walk away from danger. Stand by for the class-action lawsuits. Lawyers may conclude that there were deceptive practices

Weekend Follies March 25-26

Weekend Follies had a light haul of only three caveat emptor stocks that reported significant news at oddball hours over the weekend. We take a skeptical view of companies that make a practice of news releases when no one is really looking. Culprits are SABESP (NYSE:SBS), Encysive Pharma (Nasdaq:ENCY), Insuites (AMEX:INT)