Bearish StreetCom Gives Bad Slant To Good News As Usual.
Here's the street com with it's usual bad outlook on CNC.
Nothing new here:
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" The comments did little to embolden investors, though,
as Conseco stock was lately trading up just 3/16, or 3%,
at 7 7/16, well off its 52-week high of 28 3/16. "
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Disregarding the fact that CNC actually traded at 7 5/8,
TA
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thestreet.com
Conseco Steps Up Battle vs. Short-Sellers
By Tim Arango
TheStreet.com/NYTimes.com Staff Reporter
8/17/00 2:05 PM ET
Conseco (CNC:NYSE - news) stepped up its battle Thursday against short-sellers who are wagering that the troubled financial services company's stock will continue to fall, but its assurances seemed to fall on deaf ears.
"We believe that short-sellers and other persons have been disseminating misleading information about Conseco's upcoming debt maturation," the company said in a statement. It also said its management was optimistic that it would renegotiate terms of its debt with its lenders.
In an interview, Jim Rosensteele, Conseco's spokesman, said the company based the comments on "various contacts around the Street."
The comments did little to embolden investors, though,
as Conseco stock was lately trading up just 3/16, or 3%,
at 7 7/16, well off its 52-week high of 28 3/16.
The announcement followed the efforts of Irwin Jacobs, the 1980s corporate raider and current Conseco stockholder, to halt the influence of short-sellers on the firm's stock. Jacobs recently took out advertisements in The Wall Street Journal urging holders of Conseco stock to forbid their brokers from lending their shares to short-sellers.
Short-sellers borrow shares that they do not own and then sell them, hoping to buy back the stock at a lower price and pocket the profit.
Conseco is currently in negotiations with Lehman Bros. (LEH:NYSE - news) to renegotiate terms of its financing. Conseco is seeking to transfer money from its beleaguered lending unit, Conseco Finance, to its parent company. In its statement, Conseco reiterated that it expected to sell assets from Conseco Finance and raise about $2 billion in cash for the parent company over the next 12 to 15 months.
Speaking on background an executive at an investment bank said Conseco's statement was not unusual, especially in the day of Internet chat rooms, where often-dubious financial information is exchanged.
Also, at the end of July the company announced a major restructuring plan that involves sales of assets and the elimination of about 2,000 jobs. |
