Pat,
At this point, there is only on "REAL BIG ANNOUNCEMENT" and it has very little to do with earnings.
BTW, I do not think that you are ranting when you voice your displeasure with Barad. I, personally, can not stand to even look at her. I have to skip the first few pages of the annual to avoid seeing her picture when I read it (a ritual that I undertake whenever a stock of mine behaves as if it is going to zero ... it reminds me that MAT is a real company with nary a chance of filing Chapter 11 in its current guise ... though I do not put it past Barad to get us there if she remains at the helm for a couple more years ...).
I got physically ill when I had to listen to her perky voice during last quarter's call -- and I wasn't that big a holder then. Is there a device that I can buy that will change the sound of the voice coming out of the receiver? Something along the lines of a witness protection voice system?
Obviously, The Street thinks that they are going to miss the number. Moreover, I think people expect that MAT is going to have to make some more substantial 'investments' in TLC (as if $3.5bn wasn't enough). If she gets on the call and bops through Barbie retail takeaway and then offers no guidance or useful metrics with which we can judge what we can only hope to be the last months of her tenure, I am going to flip out.
It will be so painful buying this stock at $8 after that type of call. Rest assured, I will do it, but it will not be easy. Then again, buying it at $11 and $10 3/4 is not easy. If it were easy, the potential returns would not be so great.
Still, it will hurt. You think that they are working you down and away. All of the sudden, they come in with the high heat -- and it is tailing in. You square-up you shoulders to the mound and prepare to take 90 mph of tautly woven leather in the meat of you back. You can prepare yourself for the impact, but it still hurts like hell. In the end, you get first base and the run scores. Not as dramatic as a grand slam, but a run is a run.
--Duker
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