Stuart and Ralph,
Let me try to answer this again.
When I initially wrote up TASA I had very limited then-current information. I revised my initial Analysis when I finally got a copy of TASA's Report 10-Q for the third quarter, and then revised it again when I had received the complete Report 10-K a few days ago.
I don't know if you are familiar with a company's financial reports to the SEC, so I'm sorry if I seem to be talking down to you, but let me explain the difference between the Report 10-Q and the Report 10-K.
Each quarter a company files a Report 10-Q with the SEC 45 days after the close of the quarter. For a company like TASA, this 10-Q would generally run about 8-12 pages. It contains little or no descriptive information other than that provided in an abbreviated "Managements Discussion & Analysis" section, and no Notes to the financials. It also does not outline the company's plans to any great extent.
Annually, a company files a Report 10-K with the SEC 90 days after the end of their fiscal year. This contains audited financial statements which are also more detailed, and are supported by an often extensive set of Notes and attachments. The 10-K also contains a substantial narrative description of the company, its business, its management, etc. It is the definitive document for analyzing a company, and generally runs 50-75 pages; it is very much like an annually-updated Prospectus.
For almost all companies these reports are available on the SEC's EDGAR system.
Additionally, this year TASA extensively rewrote its Report 10-K so as to provide even more detail; they are looking for institutional holders and really need to provide this level of detail in order to get their involvement. In addition, the 10-K now provides EBITDA format data, which is useful for an analyst.
As a result of having the Report 10-K, I now have a better sense of how TASA can be expected to perform financially during 1998 and 1999. I thought that I had made this clear in my earlier Analyses, but obviously I did not. Sorry for the confusion.
Bob Davis
The Napeague Letter
napeague.com |
