Herb Greenberg published the following in his column in the San Francisco Chronicle on 7Feb97:
> "Remember Softkey?: It changed its name a few
> months ago to The Learning Company, in memory
> of the Fremont software company it acquired in a
> hostile takeover. Yesterday it reported lower-than-
> expected fourth-quarter earnings. Its stock, which
> traded as high as $30 last April, has been in a free-
> fall lately, closing yesterday at $10.88 -- down from
> $16 a week ago."
According to Zack's, earnings estimates for TLC's 4Q96 averaged $0.61 with a standard deviation of $0.04. TLC reported sales of $106,013,000 and earnings of $0.60/share. For the same quarter one year earlier, sales were $47,634,000 and earnings were $0.41/share.
For the past five quarters, TLC's sales have been:
47.6, 71.1, 76.1, 90.0, and 106.0 (x $1,000,000).
The tone of Greenberg's report is remarkably inconsistent with the financial facts cited here. Perhaps Mr. Greenberg would be willing to share with us what he knows about TLC's business that motivates his bearish comments. |
