As an owner of 300 shares of CLE, this information about CLE's yearend earnings troubles me for a couple of reasons.
First, the earnings would merely meet or even miss street expectations (depending on which earnings service you consult) instead of beating expectations, as had been hinted at by the company's earlier press releases.
Secondly, if this information legitimately comes from a CLE insider with enough responsibility to really know, then it does not speak well for the professionalism of management. Clearly, they should not be sending out such sensitive information by e-mail to investors three weeks before releasing it to the public.
Now before you all go out and sell CLE tomorrow morning, consider that this information may not be new after all. Isn't it possible that the person sending Mr. Doherty the information is not close enough to the accounting process to have inside information. When he says "earnings are expected to be .95..", expected by whom? By CLE or by the street? Perhaps this person was only referring to the .96 consensus expected by First Call, information already available to all investors. It seems to me that this is more likely the case. In fact, it seems more likely that with nearly three weeks to go before the scheduled release, it may be that no one inside or outside of CLE really knows what the numbers will be.
In any case, CLE still appears undervalued to me considering their earnings and growth; even if .95/sh for 1996 doesn't meet expectations.
Regards,
Bill M. |
