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Technology Stocks : THQ,Inc. (THQI) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mr. Aloha who wrote (13473)	2/20/2000 4:36:00 PM
From: Zirdu	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 14266

I fail to see the "hype" inherent in the press release. Let's take the statements one by one. (1) "We anticipate record sales and earnings for the fourth quarter of 1999, and we continue to believe that we will exceed final analyst expectations for the quarter." No one (outside management) knows yet if this statement was true. I am sure when they made the statement, they were well aware of 4Q 1999 sales and earnings. We will know on Wednesday. I bet that that this statement will prove to be 100% accurate. (2) "We are excited to unveil our 2000 line-up..." To say they are "excited" to unveil their 200 line up is a statement about their state of mind. If they say they are "excited" about it, are you going to call them liars and say they are not "excited" about it? (3) "...which includes our first online product, our first Dreamcast release, as well as launch support of the highly anticipated PlayStation 2." They say they will introduce these products in 2000. There is a lot of time left in 2000 for them to do so, therefore calling this statement false at this point is premature. You would have to wait for the end of 2000 to see if this statement proved true or false. (4) The 2000 "schedule promises another great year for THQ." Again, no promises were made about any quarter here. All they say is that they will have "another great year." Obviously this has to be judged for the entire year, and that result can't be known until the year 2000 is over and fully reported, about a year from now. Again, you can't judge the truth of this prediction by THQI management until the full year 2000 is over. The fact that a few weeks after this statement THQ gave guidance to analysts giving the breakdown quarter by quarter for 2000, is not inconsistent with anything said in the press release. I just don't get what everyone is so agitated about here. I suspect it boils down to the fact that the stock price is down a lot, and everyone is looking for scapegoats, and THQ management is as easy a target as anyone. By the way, regarding this early Jan press release: Many of the same posters who now are saying THQ management were a bunch of crooks for putting out this "hyped" press release, were the same ones who were calling the company and demanding that they put out some positive press releases to counter the "short attack" that THQ was then under. All I heard on the boards prior to this press release was post after post saying THQ management didn't have the best interests of shareholders at heart because they were not hyping the stock enough by putting out press releases to counter the short attack. This whole thing is pretty ironic, I think.

To: Mr. Aloha who wrote (13473)	2/20/2000 5:13:00 PM
From: Sigmund	Respond to of 14266

<<< You CANNOT issue a press release stating that last year was a great year and this year should be another one - AND THEN 30 days later lower estimates for the first half of 2000.>>>> I don't agree. Why can't you say 2000 will be a good year and "later" say the seasonal pattern will be different than 1999. It certainly would have been better to comment on the seasonal pattern being different earlier, but is it crucial...time will tell. Doesn't look to me like the plaintiff even intends to argue that point. Looks like the argument is over selective disclosure in which case this case may reach the Supreme Court. Selective disclosure is the norm to some extent. It should be interesting. It will be interesting to see how THQI responds and also who from THQI responds.