Sethy,
I posted this Warren Buffet quotation a couple weeks ago to combat the Jimmy Buffett analysis here: "If options aren't a form of compensation, what are they? If compensation isn't an expense, what is it? And, if expenses shouldn't go into the calculation of earnings, where in the world should they go?"
So I ask you, shouldn't the millions in stock options given to FCM employees be counted against the 2 cents in earnings? Analysts won't answer any of the above questions: It's a loop-hole through which both good and bad companies can pass but it's still a stockholder's right to try to justify the expense and it's worse if management doesn't try to. The rewards can make it worthwhile, that's all.
The problem is that Franklin has been in a lot of businesses (from comedy agent to e-commerce packages, from spy satellite transmission to conference hosting) and they have a need to update all (old) stockholders on what they have: Ok, Bosnia and Yugoslavia, but what else? If it's so easy for Franklin to compensate their employees with stock options, then we're due for some compensation too, imo. We got the 2 cents didn't we? Well, that's my .... doh!
There are still the same old questions. Why is that bad? It's true with every company.
WH
|
