Talked to FTEL's receptionist briefly and came away feeling salt had been rubbed into an old wound.
When I asked her when they expect the audit to be out, she stepped away for a moment, then came back and said "The CFO says 'hopefully by the end of this week'".
I've been around long enough to know that means "I have no idea, but it'd be nice if it came out this week." My belief is there is something fundamentally *wrong* with the audit right now that is taking an inordinate amount of time to deal with. I can't help but have a sick feeling in my gut when I hear what I'm hearing. If they don't care enough about the audit to keep better tabs on the status, I think there's a good chance they're either in too far over their heads to be able to do anything but tread water, or they're not being on the "up and up". After all, the CFO shouldn't be swamped with technology problems/issues. He should be doggedly working on getting this *late* audit out.
Keep in mind that, unlike many of you, I haven't been involved with this company long enough to have a deeply held belief in its scruples. From where I sit, it's a company I bought not too long ago in anticipation of an audit that was to be out soon. About 75% of the time I've been in this company has been time that the audit has been late. I've gotten burned before in an identical situation and am understandably gun-shy about it. I'd rather miss out on an opportunity to 10x my money than to take what I see as too strong a chance I'm going to get burned again. If the audit does eventually come out, I'll buy back in at a level that would only 5x my money and not regret for a moment the missed opportunity to 10x it.
I'm selling tomorrow because I don't feel terribly warm and fuzzy about this company anymore. I'll continue to watch them like a hawk, though, and will be back in immediately if/when some news comes out.
I retract my earlier statement about this stock reaching $3 by the end of the week. That message was written before my phone call. At the time, I fully expected it to come out in a couple of days. I don't even expect it to come out this *month* now. I'm selling now because I believe it's going to drop more over the next couple of weeks. Will take what profits I've made, and just watch and see what happens. I believe this is called "timing".
Please don't anyone flame me over my decision and negative take on the situation. I am hoping that I get proven wrong this week, and will gladly buy back in at a higher basis than the $1.69 I'm at right now.
P.S. I think the only thing that'll stop this company from being a $1.25 issue by week's end is that it's not followed closely enough for a lot of people to be aware of this problem with the audit. |
