Idiotic might be a better word.........this takes the cake:
Wall Street Whistleblower: Oops! Interface Shares Double as Investors Bid Up Wrong Stock
By Gregg Wirth
Staff Reporter
11/24/98 5:29 PM ET
File this under "Internet stock mania," or perhaps "bull market cautionary tales."
Interface Systems (INTF:Nasdaq) hit a 52-week high Monday, more than doubling to 6 1/2 on volume of 1.4 million shares, about 170 times its daily average. The reason? The company was mistakenly referenced as a hot stock on Friday's Nightly Business Report on PBS.
While the Nightly Business Report segment correctly referred to another company called Intasys (INTAF:Nasdaq), the ticker symbol reported on the TV show and in the transcripts posted on its Web site was that of Interface Systems, which trades under INTF -- not Intasys, whose symbol is INTAF.
Although the one-letter mistake likely was discovered by some investors, others wasted no time on silly tasks like due diligence. And in today's market, a mere mention of a company's Internet component can send shares skyrocketing. It seems there's no stopping the Internet juggernaut, even when investors are buying in error.
Perhaps adding to the confusion was the irony that both Intasys, based in Mississauga, Ontario, and Interface, based in Ann Arbor, Mich., design customer-billing software. Intasys serves the telecommunications, year 2000 and Internet sectors. Interface provides software to integrate mainframe computers with the Internet. Both stocks were trading around 3 before their mention on NBR.
The mistake took place Friday night when Nightly Business Report anchor Paul Kangas was interviewing James Dines, the editor of newsletter Dines Letter. Asked by Kangas for a list of good Internet stocks, Dines replied, "My best low-price recommendation is Intasys -- that's INTF."
Interface -- the incorrectly referenced stock -- opened Monday at 5 1/4, representing a 92% jump from its Friday close of 3. As momentum built, the stock reached a high of 6 1/2, shattering its previous high of 3 7/8.
Rodney Ward, Nightly Business Report's managing editor, says the show was notified by Interface yesterday afternoon about the error. The program corrected the online transcripts immediately, Ward says.
Interface issued a press release noting the mistake at about 1:30 p.m. EST Monday. The stock then fell back, ending the day at 4, up 1. John Ternes, Interface's chief financial officer, did not immediately return phone calls.
As the stock began its midday retreat, frantic message-board posters also got the word out. A message on Silicon Investor blared: "Get out now while you can! The NBR transcript has a typo. The correct ticker is INTAF for a company called Intasys!"
The error seemingly took the shine off of Intasys, which rose less sharply Monday than Interface. The stock gained 20% to 3 1/2, up 19/32, on 1.9 million shares traded -- 17 times the norm. Stephen Roth, the company's chairman and chief executive, was nonchalant about the incident. "These things happen," he says. "In the end, the marketplace takes care of itself."
Of course, that's only if the market rights itself. So, today you would expect Interface to plummet and Intasys to get the rally it was denied yesterday. But neither happened. Perhaps because investors who got into Interface at 6 didn't want to sell at 3. Interface held some of its gains from Monday, closing at 3 25/32, down 3/16. And the previously neglected Intasys, which missed Monday's Dow surge, fell almost 15% to 2 31/32, down 1/2.
Last night on NBR, Kangas tried to put it all right, making this on-air correction:
Finally in the spotlight, Intasys Corporation was mentioned in a favorable light by Jim Dines, our market monitor guest, last Friday. Unfortunately, he gave the symbol as INTF, forgot the A in there, and there is a company that has a very similar symbol, namely Interface Systems.
Some investors got the two confused and bought Interface and bid it all the way up to 6 1/2 early in the day until the mistake was corrected, and we regret the confusion. But you can see how similar the symbols are. Just a reminder, ladies and gentlemen: Be very careful you have the name, the symbol and check that price before you buy.
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