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Chinmoy, The problem is, pre-announcements are very informal and I
don't think there is any even loose rules on them. In fact, I remember
getting several notes saying that there were fewer
negative preannouncements in
technology this time, but that was just because they came later than
last quarter. According to The High Tech Strategist, negative pre
announcements actually ran 17 percent ahead of last quarter. I don't
think there is any organization or rhyme or reason to this sort of
thing. It works like this. A production or marketing person walks in
and says "things ain't going so hot this quarter," or, "wow, things
are going gangbusters." Some cos. say, great, and tell everyone about
it when the quarter arrives. Others tell analysts. And others announce
to the public. They tend to do it soon after they get the news, which
can be at any time during the last half of the quarter. Preannouncements
are a fairly new phenomenon. Ten years ago there were almost none
unless it was general news. For example, J&J was unlikely to announce
a slowing in sales at Tylenol, but, when they had a guy poisoning the
bottles, they announced that there was a problem. The quiet period
generally involves prospectuses or proxies. The ones involving eps
reports are set informally by the companies. MB |
