<"Paul Johnson of BARS has usually been correct in his calls on Ascend. Of all the analysts, I hated to see his downgrade.">
He didn't downgrade.
Or if he did, I missed it. Please post link if he did.
He simply declined to treat the working capital loans as a one-time write-off, meaning that the write-ups (for Cascade acquisition) were not fully offset, meaning that ASND didn't make quarter, from his perspective, since you shouldn't be counting the one-time credits.
He basically took a shot at Ashby's game, which he verbalized during the conference call. He obviously feels that ASND is being less than transparent. They are over-managing, surprising, and confusing analysts. Without any reason to give ASND the benefit of the doubt, the analysts are taking Ashby at his word and assuming the worst case scenario regarding CLEC loans (Ashby did write them off, remember) and assuming that this will be a regular feature of the business, going forward.
Nonetheless, all that I saw, was his downward revisions of 1998 (not 1999) earnings pretty much following ASND's guidance, modified by his view that these working capital charges may become a permanent feature. |
