Thursday, August 19, 2010

Lenovo -- More Info Please!

Lenovo (ADR:LNVGY) left shareholders hanging for more financial details as they announced huge consolidated sales and net profit increases. They neglected to include a balance sheet with the earnings release but made the very big point that they now have net cash reserves of USD $2.2 billion. When you say net that means you have debt somewhere but no explaining on that point.

No breakdown provided on geographic sales. If you claim to be a global player you need to present global numbers. Hard to come to firm conclusions when there is too much fog on the landscape.

Disclosure: No position in any stocks mentioned in this post.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Deere No Balance Sheet in the Headlights

Deere (DE) left out the balance sheet when they reported boomer numbers for Q3. Everything was about the income statement and how large equipment was selling. For investors to develop an accurate assessment you need to include all the financial statements. The earnings release leaves it out. Surely it was included somewhere else making it more difficult for investors to find and assess. Not investor friendly.

Disclosure: No position in any stocks mentioned in this post.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Home Depot Abandons Press Release

Home Depot (HD) abandoned the earnings release in all but name. The press release that came out today contained very little qualitative information that an investor would find useful. For a large cap stock this is shameful. I can only assume that the good stuff was included in the conference call. The press release has been castrated and management wants to deal with information in the conference call where they feel that have better control over analysts and can manage the public portion of their messages.

Open question to the board. If the CFO came to you with only this press release would you feel comfortable coming to the qualitative decisions that you are paid for. Then why should the investor.

Disclosure: No position in any stocks mentioned in this post.

Monday, August 16, 2010

ITW Talk to Me Baby

ITW (ITW) issued an abbreviated earnings release which I am not sure meets Reg FD standards. No income statement, balance sheet or sources and uses of cash were included. They threw in a few points about sales and revenue gains and called it an earnings release. No management discussion of anything meaningful. Ten days ago they increased the dividend by 10% citing strong free cash flow.

Talk to me baby. Say something an investor would understand. Anything for a start.

Disclosure: No position in any stocks mentioned in this post.