>One would think that the company would issue a press release
>touting their successful accomplishments with the Pathfinder project,
>particularly if an officer was going to sell stock, but no press
>releases have been released - why not?
Carolyn, we are not seeing the same world. WIND has done an unbelievable job of using the news media to describe their contribution to the Pathfinder. I assume you viewed the Video News Release distributed by WIND to anyone who asked for a tape, and no doubt provided gratis to broadcast news networks. I also assume you saw numerous references to WIND on CNBC.
Rather than just hype the company, the news references did something very important, and real. The issue was how NASA could do something cheaper, faster and better. The answer is to use credible commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) technology. In a three minute segment, fully one-half of the segment was given to WIND as an example of appropriate use of COTS technology.
Now, lets review the message. COTS is cheaper, faster and better. But YOUR application is mission critical, so it is understandable that you would normally reject out-sourcing a critical component. But nothing is more mission critical than a spaceship to Mars filled with robots. This means you can safely use VxWorks for your mission critical applications without losing sleep or your job.
I find it difficult to believe that more than three people in the world that count failed to get that message. Certainly everybody did in the military. Everybody did in NASA. Even the FAA probably noticed it (or maybe not). Every automobile company noticed it. Every company in the world with mission critical requirements noticed that NASA used COTS VxWorks to do a job much more demanding than anything they have ever even thought about.
I think WIND handled the Mars Pathfinder superbly.
>I believe that the company uses the media to "manipulate" the stock price.
Strong language and not true. I am sure that everyone in WIND, management through the lowest paid employee would prefer that the stock price not be volatile. So do I. Management is clear about not wanting analysts to hype the stock through the use of excessive estimates. Management has succeeded in eliminating the so-called earnings hockey stick. But manipulate the news? No. There is no evidence that news has been manipulated.
If you look at the pattern of news announcements, I think you will find they are random, occurring about once per month on average, with bursts of news typically following the ESC West Conference in September. When the stock sank without apparent reason last spring, for example, WIND made no effort to support the stock artificially through press releases.
I do believe that there is a subtle requirement that the exuberance expressed in news releases be consistent with the current performance of the company - so investors are not mislead by press releases. Any inconsistency should be spelled out clearly in the press release. I have no complaints about WIND in this regard, while I did register dissatisfaction with MWAR.
>I have also come to the conclusion that insider selling has no correlation
>with WINDs business outlook.
That is correct. Like many successful Silicon Valley firms, WIND uses stock options to attract and hold top-notch talent. Many of these people view stock options as just another form of salary.
Allen |
