Paul, I understand that the company cannot tell me about "potential bad news" The VP I spoke with told me on Monday that it was company policy to release any news as it should come available. He said the earnings report which was due out Monday, March 10 was "in line" with expectations. So I guess everyone will know for sure on Monday. My point about this movement in the stock price is simply that there was some type of "precipitating" event. Given there was no news, not even widely circulated rumor that I'm aware of. Insider selling, not meeting earnings estimates, etc. all came after the decline, as we all know, these things do not happen in a vacuum.
As far as Nighthawk is concerned, I am aware that the company has been very public about the proportion of net sales to the company, and I believe was re-iterated in the December earnings report. So my point is that this is not news, the company warned in December that the seasonality of Nighthawk sales should be considered going forward.
I've not read the Forbes article, so I'll not comment other than to say Nighthawk was rated as the best CO detector by a consumer magazine. If you call your local fire district, ask them if they think the detectors (as a class) are of any use. There seems to be a market for them.
It is my belief that the sell off may have been precipitated by heavy short selling of the stock in the early stages, and yes, margin accounts were probably called, stops were hit, and the downdraft continued all the way down to the 200 DMA (before it had been traded strongly above the 10 DMA). I don't know if there is anyway possible for the NASD to take apart the trading and make a determination on this (they are investigating the trading). But if there was any type of orchestrated short selling in the early stages that caused the stock to unwind on Monday, I believe that is illegal and I hope that if that is the case, it will come out, though I seriously doubt it. bp |
