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Jiang Nanchun is the CEO of FMCN (Focus Media). They are into commercial buildings but also have airport shuttle buses as part of their ad network, so the description and the name match FMCN. Someone posted a link to an article describing a conflict over the name, I'll try to locate it, but the arrangement with CNYD was likely with the local FMCN branch.
Who knows - in the past, questions re Nasdaq, buyback, etc. were frequently answered with 'the board is discussing x' until just before the corporate action occurred, when he would go silent with a similar nonresponse due to confidentiality. So it may be a 'tell' that something is soon to occur, or it might just be what it appears to be - that they are keeping their cards close to vest.
FWIW, emailed Jacky Lam and asked 2 questions: are shares purchased to be retired, and is dividend still under consideration. Answer:
"Sorry cannot provide a concrete answer because of confidentiality."
I find it reassuring that there is independent evidence that the company was well respected in China prior to going public in the U.S., received many awards, etc. At that time (2008) they had already grown substantially. The site has many other smaller articles that appear to be from a private company newsletter - mostly articles about staff activities (they all went on an Outward Bound rope course), awards received, and celebrations re new clients or new routes. They even had a composition contest, open to employees and customers, entitled 'China MediaExpress and I: These Three Years'.
Nothing game-changing but it reinforces the reality of the company and its employees' day-to-day life.
There's an article about the launch of the airport express buses, here's the text (the language is very passionate and colorful at times):
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Congratulations on the Official Launch of TV Network on Airport Shuttle Buses
Real estate, automobile, luxury leisure and recreation, financial products, fashion clothes, jewelry, brand goods…Distinct from average consumables, such high-end products need the support of high-level consumers of high income, high taste, and high positions like businesspersons and corporate as well as governmental leadership. Such segment of population differs from others in their travel and consuming styles: they treasure time, stress taste, and pay close attention to information quality.
The TV network on airport shuttle buses, launched by China MediaExpress with careful preparations, has already begun its trial play in some major cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, Chengdu, Fuzhou, and Xiamen. Targeting the high-end consumers in and out of airport, the network is committed to creating a pleasant and harmonious journey and offering comprehensive information by relying on airport shuttle bus TV.
We are taking Fuzhou Changle International Airport shuttle bus as an example to illustrate the appealing scene of Fuzhou Airport Shuttle Bus Network as a window to Fuzhou, a coastal city to the west of Taiwan Strait.
Advantage one: five million of passenger flow as our high-end audience
Locate high-end clients
The TV Network mainly appeals to the audience in and out of airport ranging in age from 25 to 45. They are leaders or decision-makers in their organizations, and also leading purchasers of medium and high-end products and opinion leaders.
A passenger flow of five million
According to statistics, Fuzhou Airport shuttle buses alone accommodate a passenger flow of up to five million! Around five hundred to six hundred planes land or take off at the airport and there are 160 to 220 passengers for each plane on average, of which 90.9% take an airport shuttle bus in or out of the airport. The shuttle bus, once every ten minutes, has 73.8% of its seats occupied annually on average. In the Spring Festival holiday alone, the passenger flow reaches over 400,000!
Advantage two: special media technology to ensure the maximum interest of clients
Patent technology for preset broadcast
Distinct from traditional TV media, China MediaExpress adopts its exclusive national patent technology (Patent No.ZL200520073752.7) to broadcast its one channel upon the start of the vehicle, free from the interference of the remote control!
Positive View Guaranteed Efficiency
After one, even several hours of tense flight, passengers take the cozy bus to enjoy the interesting and pleasant programs on Airport TV Network; in a relaxing mode, passengers tend to accept the programs and ads with delight and are willing to practice second circulation of the ads.
Meanwhile, according to authoritative analyses, an embrace of the same information for two to three times over a certain period will help forge a lasting memory. Ads are broadcast automatically after every thirty minutes on our network; during a short one-hour journey, passengers may confront your ads for twice, a perfect guarantee of efficiency.
Absolutely Worthy Reward
Every luxury airport bus is installed with one or two high-definition crystal displays and eight or twelve high-fidelity loudspeakers, thus creating theater-like effects. In contrast to the dull journey, watching wonderful programs on the bus is naturally the most popular recreation among passengers. Therefore, it is no exaggeration to say that the gains from such TV ads, far outweigh the expensive outdoor airport and expressway advertisement bulletins, which probably amount to as much as RMB 300,000, over twice that of TV ads on airport shuttle buses.
Advantage three: good programs, better ads
Local information, up-to-date lifestyle, most popular life concepts, real estate, auto, tourism, finance, name products…China MediaExpress is devoted to producing popular programs and information of passengers’ concern.
Advantage four: the airport shuttle bus serves as a window to life on the west coast of Taiwan Strait.
From the perspective of the audience, the airport shuttle bus serves as a medium for passengers upon their descent from the airplane. If the airport is compared to a window to the west coast of Taiwan Strait, the TV Network on the Airport Shuttle Bus then is the primary high-end platform for the leading businesses in all industries of Fujian Province to display and highlight their images. The closed airport environment helps the businesspersons, who seldom have an eye on TV programs, to accept the audiovisual information in our channel in a positive way; any relevant information is bound to leave a deep impression on passengers. Being able to display the economic and cultural life of Fujian Province, China MediaExpress earns the reputation of “a window to the west coast of Taiwan Strait”.
Cheng Zheng interview Part 3
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Interviewer: How do you see the prospect and trend of your company, China MediaExpress?
Mr. Cheng: I am, of course, very optimistic about our prospect. Those who know our development history will understand where my confidence comes from. When China MediaExpress was founded, I told myself that I would focus on the operation of vehicle TV media in inter-city coaches. I can tell you very proudly that we have made groundbreaking initiatives in China vehicle TV media industry in inter-city coaches. In 2007, China MediaExpress has successively established the operation centers in East China, North China, South China and the Southwest. In this February, we opened the coach network in airport. Within the year we will officially open the vehicle TV network in inter-city coaches in many more regions including Hunan, Hubei and Chongqing. So far, we have an exclusive advertising right in over 20,000 coaches nationwide. With such a development trend and the constant update of Chinese highway mileage, we have every reason to become more optimistic of our future.
Now we put forward the concept of “Efficient Advertising Network” and we have actually done that all the time. Let me first take our advertising network for example. This network is a special one consisting of highways between cities, between an urban and a suburb, and between a city and a county. And our patent equipment can be started with the coaches and play programs automatically. During the journey, a ten-minute ad is inter-cut every 30 minutes. If the coach travels in an average span of three hours on an inter-city highway, the audience will watch the same ad for 4 to 6 times during the journey. What’s more, more than 70% of the passengers are happy to watch these ads, and more than 80% of those surveyed have a memory related to the ads in about three months.
We have helped many clients to amplify their business opportunities through this highly efficient media. I would like to cite some brands which have been advertised on MediaExpress in Fujian. Many enterprises, including Suntime Wine, Guangfa Huafu Secuities, K-Bird, Taifu Food, China Telecom, have advertised in our network for one continuous year, and some even for over three years. The effect of their advertising is apparently satisfying. Otherwise, it could not happen that the old clients would come back to us for more advertising. Some brands, like Huierkang had been quite reputed in Fujian before they came to us for advertising. What counted was that we could provide them with a very economical delivery mode yet with a better effect. Take Taifu Food for instance. It has a great many series of products. If advertised in a traditional media, it would have to spend a lot of physical resources and still be ill-targeted. We proposed to advertise 20 seconds in a double time frame A and B. In addition, we especially recommended to them a title sponsorship for the warm tips in the journey so as to maximize the exposure. This delivery mode is very effective in locking those distributors and franchisers who are on the move and cannot spare time for TV watching at home. But they were able to receive the information of Taifu Food while they were on a business trip. Also with the three-hour travel. Taifu Food would have twelve opportunities to spread its message. Being intensive and highly effective, the advertising enjoyed a high degree of memory. Since it has been advertised, Taifu is very satisfied and has highly recognized our efficient delivery mode. And for a number of counties where the normal promotion can hardly be done, China MediaExpress can reach there and spread the message.
There are many more examples of success and I will not cite them all out. They make us believe that the efficient advertising network can expand farther along with the highways and optimize the a radiation lap of strategic brands which is centered on the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta, the Bohai Bay and the Southwest Region. In line with the orientation of present enterprises and the new trend in advertising industry, we will further refine the operation of China MediaExpress. At the same time, we will enlarge our current space. Please wait and see.
Interviewer: The competition is very, very fierce on the market. How could you and your team stand out above others? Is there any secret for your success?
Mr. Cheng: what I can tell you is that we have a very good corporate culture. In our work, we ask each qualified employee to meet seven principles, that is, “valuing the whole, pooling everyone’s wisdom and efforts, recognizing individual, overcoming the differences and seeking common ground, being open-minded and communicative, being active in listening and conducting team operations”. These principles do not prevent us from treating each member with humanistic cares. We have established the Party Branch and the labor union in the enterprise long ago, and we are going to found a loan society. Staff are the partners of our cause. The so-called secret is only one word - Befriending.
Interviewer: If China MediaExpress can keep its momentum, do you have any new plans for the development?
Mr. Cheng: Our new plan is to establish a “BusinessTrip Website” of China MediaExpress and we are trying hard to put it into operation within the year. On this website, people will be able to buy tickets, contact logistics, and book hotels and so on. We are planning to integrate China MediaExpress closely with the “BusinessTrip Website”. It will be like this. We already have an annual passenger audience of more than 1 billion. If 50% of the passengers became our cyber citizens, we would have a monthly click rate of 5 million on the website basically.
Besides, we are also planning to install our patent equipment in big hotels throughout the country, through which an all-around service such as traveling with coaches will become possible. In other words, we are going to provide an integral solution of a tourist coach trip targeted at hotel guests. The only price that these guests will have to pay is that they must watch our ads.
Interviewer: what is the greatest fun in your work? And what experience do you have to improve work efficiency?
Mr. Cheng: The greatest fun at work is to listen to “Buddha sounds”, like the Great Compassion Dharani and Vajra Sutra. These sounds bring me both peace and happiness. A peaceful happiness is exactly what I always go in for in my work.
As to the improvement of work efficiency, I think you will improve your efficiency when you have developed a sound work plan.
Interviewer: what is now most needed in the development of China MediaExpress?
Mr. Cheng: What we are most in need are qualified personnel. I would like to, through your magazine, issue an invitation to the friends in advertising field. I hope those who are interested in this career can join in our enterprise through a variety of means and we can seek a common development together. We also undertake that we will be the right talent scout if you are a qualified candidate indeed.
Cheng Zheng interview Part 2
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Interviewer: Mr. Cheng, you definitely have a successful career and China MediaExpress has been on a highway of development in recent years. Could you tell us how you started your career at first?
Mr. Cheng: Thank you, but we are still working very hard. At the very beginning, we had conducted careful analyses before we decided to launch MediaExpress. In 2004, what we first had in mind was to do business in air media. Well, after we made a survey, we found that there existed a number of interference factors for broadcasting conditions in a plane and there was a very low possibility for passengers to watch an ad there. Later, we studied the media on a train and found that the majority of audiences were, in fact, low-end consumers. We surveyed more than twenty modes of media and now there are people working in all those fields. A year later, we finally fixed on the vehicle media in inter-city coaches. The main reason was that it was the best as far as watching environment, audience and the possibility of networking are concerned. It has a totally enclosed, pure media environment and high-quality business audience. At the same time, with the rapid expansion of expressways in China, the development of coaches will radiate into not only cities but also counties and towns.
Specifically speaking, a coach, as being speedy, convenient and comfortable, is a universal choice for the middle- and high-income groups who shuttle between cities. This fact makes an intrinsic distinction between our media and other ones. We can attract high-end audiences, not to mention, some of them are franchisers themselves. The characteristic of de-mass enables the advertisers to deliver their ads more precisely. Therefore, the advertising network of China MediaExpress is a big appeal to the advertisers.
By now, China MediaExpress has covered over 3,200 inter-city lines, and 400 lines between cities and counties. I am very confident that the number will be doubled by the end of this year. Such a high rate of radiating cities cannot be done by many other media.
The rapid development of China MediaExpress in these years has demonstrated that we made a right decision at the time. It is worthy of mentioning that we, after several rounds of negotiations, have the honor of becoming the “Genuine Works Project” vehicle TV operator solely designated by China’s Ministry of Transport in November 2007. Last November, China Communications News front-paged the news and in the same year we were assessed as A-class Certified Advertisement Company in China. In February 2008, China MediaExpress passed international quality management system certification of ISO9001:2000. You know, we are the only one of the media enterprises in Fujian Province which has passed the certification. At present, we have already established marketing centers in a number of key cities nationwide, and a preliminary lap of its strategic brand, which focuses on the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta, the Bohai Bay and the Southwest Region, has come into being.
In fact, we have won many more honors in recent years. Except what mentioned just now, we were awarded “National Double Top 10 Credibility Modeling Enterprise of Quality Services” in January 2006. In that July, our “Automation Technology of Audio-visual Broadcasting Set for Express Coaches” won the “National Prize for Progress in Science and Technology” and the “Second Prize of State Patent Innovation Award”. In December 2007, China MediaExpress was awarded “Civilization Unit in National Advertising Industry”. Our prospect was also recognized by the organizing committee of World Investment and Financing Conference. In November 2007, it assessed China MediaExpress as a “Project with Best Investment Potentials” and an “Enterprise with Best Investment Value”. These honors are great morale boosters to me and my entire team.
Cheng Zheng interview Part 1 (looks like it is from a local trade journal in Fujian, sometime in 2008).
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Planning in Hand And Assuring A Victory
An Exclusive Interview with the helmsman Cheng Zheng, General Manager of China MediaExpress
--by Wu Jianbiao
[Editor’s Note] In recent years, Fujian Association of Advertising has paid a special attention to the trends in advertising industry. As the cradle of advertising, Fujian witnessed the emergence of a number of outstanding advertising companies which have already expanded their operations into the whole country. Among them, China MediaExpress is truly one of the best, which we used to cover with a title of “Will A Local Advertising Enterprise Become A Chinese Dragon after Growing beyond Fujian?”. Over three years, MediaExpress has been on an expressway of development. It is the sole media enterprise in Fujian advertising industry that has successfully passed the international quality management system certification of ISO9001:2000. In 2007, MediaExpress was awarded “Civilization Unit in National Advertising Industry” and assessed as A-class Certified Advertisement Company in China. Meanwhile, it has been honored as “National Double Top 10 Credibility Modeling Enterprise of Quality Services”, and its “Automation Technology of Audio-visual Broadcasting Set for Express Coaches” won the “National Prize for Progress in Science and Technology” and the “Second Prize of State Patent Innovation Award”. The prospect of China’s MediaExpress was also well-recognized by the organizing committee of World Investment and Financing Conference and it was assessed as a “Project with Best Investment Potentials” and an “Enterprise with Best Investment Value”. So far, MediaExpress has established marketing centers in a number of key cities nationwide, and a preliminary lap of its strategic brand, which focuses on the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta, the Bohai Bay and the Southwest Region, has come into being.
We are proud of having such an advertising and media enterprise in Fujian. Through a track and an appointment over one year, we have the honor of interviewing Mr. Chengzheng, general manager of China MediaExpress and exploring the secret of the success that he and his team have attained.
Interviewer: Mr. Cheng, what do you think have changed significantly in advertising industry in recent years?
Mr. Cheng: The recent changes in the industry, as I see it, can be summed up into four aspects.
Firstly, there is an evident trend of division and de-mass in advertising. Nowadays, ads can be found everywhere in the space of our life. Apart from the traditional media such as TVs and newspapers, there appeared a lot of de-massed media. For example, the advertising media in a lift, the media on a train, in a plane or in a coach. Even, there is an advertising medium in a space as private as a restroom. In essence, these media specify the audiences, based on the characteristics of product alienation, and deliver advertisements in a more precise and effective way. For the advertisers, it can save much more money and achieve better results.
Secondly, advertising is apparently connected. Many small media, including the obscure ones, will show great power once they are connected. It is just like what we call “water pooled makes a lake” or “many hands make work light”. Let us take bus TV in an airport shuttle for example. When the media effect of airport coaches in one city is surveyed, I think its value is very limited. But, if we consider an advertising network which covers airport coaches in ten cities or even in twenty cities, the value and effect are significantly amplified. Now, let’s focus on the China MediaExpress we run. If we were just satisfied with our operation in Fuzhou, the advertising effect would have diminished. So, we focused the whole development strategy on the network. Our network has so far covered over 2, 000 coaches in Fujian and over 20,000 ones nationwide. After we connected the advertising on inter-city coaches in ten first-tier provinces and cities domestically, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong, Jiangsu and Fujian, we immediately had the clients of top brands both at home and abroad, such as Pepsi, Coca-Cola, China Mobile and Brain Age. Such network effect is of great significance to the de-massed media.
Thirdly, there is an apparent increase of capitalization. In recent years, the progress of industrial transformation in Chinese media is greatly accelerated. The huge media market in China attracted a lot of capital. In the process, a number of promising media, after the operation of capitalization, have integrated their resources and realized a leap-styled development. Among them, Focus Media, CTS and AirMedia are all good examples.
Fourthly, there are more and more new media. They are so many that the market is practically saturated. I believe that the Red Ocean (a market with extremely fierce competition) of media is just around the corner. Basically, any fields that we can think of have already had media. Therefore, the competition will grow fiercer and fiercer. On the other hand, the advertisers are faced with more choices when they want to advertise themselves.
There's an interesting 2008, pre-TMI interview with Cheng Zheng on the CCME website, though it's pretty tedious trying to read it there. I've extracted it and am happy to post it - it's fairly long though, might span a few posts... anyone want to see it posted here on this board?
The link is http://www.ccme.tv/en/news.aspx.
I thought the rules prohibit the company from trading the last 30 minutes...?
Maybe with the company actively trading its own stock, they will begin to ask the same questions we have been asking - who is manipulating it?
It's good to know that if someone pulls a UTA-style stunt on CCME, they can at least cushion the impact and fire back in the ensuing days. This is a big relief to me and gives me confidence the company knows what may be coming and is preparing itself. It seems you can't stop someone from publishing unfounded, even ridiculous accusations to hit the stock hard, but management has disclosed a lot of information preemptively (regarding rates, customer testimonials, etc.), and having the buyback program in place is another arrow in their quiver should the need arise.
I think it's just that they have talked about a dividend quite a bit, both privately with people here and publicly in their investor conference. The message has been that the board is discussing it, not that it is a certainty, but I doubt they would prominently talk about the benefits of a dividend in an investor conference if it wasn't in the bag.
Just my opinion, of course anything could (or could not) happen. But both the Nasdaq listing and the buyback followed the same pattern of stating 'the board is discussing this', followed by the news within a reasonable amount of time.
'Lack of internal controls'? What is the basis for this statement?
The power the shorts have right now lies in the fact that they haven't shown their hand. All shorts have, IMO, is the fear that they have something damaging on the company. But that doesn't mean they actually do. Heck there aren't even any theories about what they have that would justify taking this down to these levels, as someone pointed out the PE is below companies that have real issues.
Right now longs and the company are busy trying to prove a negative - that's impossible of course. And it also makes longs look defensive, not helpful.
This is why I think the company should unleash their financial might. F*ck trying to prove a negative, just prove a positive: we have a lot of money and here's proof, in the form of a significant dividend and buyback. I understand the argument for using the funds for business growth, but the stock will appreciate enough to compensate for that, IMO. Or go ahead and do an acquisition, same result if it is accretive and strategic. Either way, the company demonstrates it has the cash, end of story.
I agree with you but management also keeps stating that they are responding. They have prominently mentioned a buyback and dividend, privately to individuals but also to the general public during the recent conference. The question is, when? Where is the announcement?
On the one hand it seems like they aren't doing enough. But with most of these China companies the advice would be: a) get a big-4 auditor, b) get a big US investor with clout on board, c) avoid complicated balance sheets or heavy AR, d) be proactively transparent, show us the buses, customers, ad agencies, etc. etc.
The problem is they have already done all of the above, but are still caught in the shorting/bashing whirlpool for reasons I can't fathom. I certainly hope they are about to announce a very significant program to deploy their cash, either in direct support of their shares or in an accretive acquisition.
Excellent, thanks to you and Yicheng. I don't believe the company has directly addressed the whole SAIC issue, that will probably come up. Other than that, ask them if they wouldn't mind posing in front of 140 million dollar bills for Yicheng to snap a few pics. ;)
Seriously, I'd like to know if they are ready with a big Wall Street law firm to clobber the Muddy Citron website that will probably attack them.
Fantastic work, appreciate your DD and posts.
They're doing well enough with their regular network:
22,300 buses @ $22/minute = $12.9 million revenue per month
But just a relatively tiny number of airport buses is bringing in ~25% of that already:
436 buses @ $341/minute = $3.4 million revenue per month
Amazing potential here, the above does not even include the new 5th airport. They got a 5 year contract on the new Hunan contract, I wonder what kind of contracts they have for the other 4.
Those airports are cash cows. Any idea what their ambitions are re these routes? I can't recall that they have talked about how many airport contracts they may be able to get.
Ah, apologies LMB... definitely getting a case of basher burnout.
There were ad agencies at the conference and there are positive quotes in the presentation from Pepsi and other advertisers... what do you expect the company to do, take a polygraph? There's a point where all this fraud paranoia becomes laughable.
tenenbaum - that is a different Yahoo poster (carNdog, not carMdog). Lots of impersonation goes on there.
http://search.messages.yahoo.com/search?.mbintl=finance&q=carmdog2&action=Search&r=Huiz75WdCYfD_KCA2Dc-&within=author&within=tm
Plus, though it didn't get a lot of attention, the new Hunan airport route should boost Q4 earnings, maybe Q3 as well.
I agree it's a mystery, but it was the same pattern earlier in the year. They eventually raised guidance, and then blew away that guidance with Q2 earnings. Personally I think it's just an abundance of caution, coupled with a new public company wanting to establish a pattern of exceeding guidance.
Millstone - you just made my day - thanks.
~$500 million, last I checked.
If CCME didn't have a lock on this intercity bus segment, you just know that either FMCN or VISN would be all over it. Are there that many places left in China to put up LCD advertising? Can't imagine that eyes aren't on CCME as they have a very profitable niche.
It was 30,000 - but go ahead and keep the misinformation campaign alive.
Sorry, forgot that I have a trial subscription running. The writer is Timothy Collins, the text I posted is the entire CCME coverage in his article.
Bullish mention on thestreet.com:
http://www.thestreet.com/p/_googlen/rmoney/investing/10838322.html?cm_ven=GOOGLEN
"Another name a reader pointed out to me and which caught my eye was China Mediaexpress Holdings (CCME - commentary - Trade Now). I need to do some more homework on the fundamentals here, but the earnings have been fantastic. The shares look cheap on a P/E and PEG-ratio basis. CCME has bounced nicely today after opening lower on the announcement it was selling 2.13 million shares for holders. The action following the announcement has been bullish, and CCME looks as though it may form a bullish hammer today. Shares look to have support around $10, as well as smaller support around $10.80. With stochastics turning higher, a strengthening RSI and a stable on-balance volume (OBV), any move over $11.50, or pullback to $10.80, looks like a tradable long position. Any pullback to $10 without some fundamental change would be a fantastic long-term and trading entry."
If (and that's a big IF) CME is planning on a small dividend, would this be a win/win type of arrangement - CME gets $8 million to help pay the dividend without impacting cash, TMI gets the dividend on their converted shares and helps rescue the share price...?
Thoughts from someone more knowledgeable than me? TIA.
I expect they will soon come out with the 'Skymall' idea, hopefully they will guide revenue expectations and have some partnerships lined up. It's interesting, their 600 million passengers is actually very close to Skymall's passenger exposure (about 620 million: http://www.azcentral.com/business/articles/2008/07/12/20080712biz-skymall0712-ON.html).
I expect them to announce the catalog program soon, hopefully it comes with partners already lined up, along with income projections.
He referred to net income, though, not eps - wouldn't that suggest new revenue stream (with great margins)?
There is such a concerted effort to spread rumors about CCME, it's crazy. Re your question, CME has an exclusive license through the government to run ads on intracity buses in China. In addition, they have been inking 5-8 year contracts with bus operators, something like 50% of the operators in China to date. That's a significant moat around their business, IMO.
Re buyback - if the argument against it is that institutions won't buy a small float... well, the institutions don't appear to be buying at this point anyway. I'd argue that it's more important for the company to show its confidence in the stock and to support the PPS, I'm sure a lot of people are on the sidelines simply because the price action is so poor.
I've been trying to think of what else the company can do to dispel the short attack. They already have a top auditor; they have gone through the TMI and Starr transactions, involving deep audits of the books, contracts, etc.; they have earnings in cash; yada yada yada. What's left? An open house at their bank? An investor tour of the operations and buses? It seems the best weapon at their disposal is a buyback, even with its shortcomings (no pun intended).
TheStreet - short video on CCME, link is on the home page.
"Let's wait and see when the company puts out its financials again".
http://www.thestreet.com/video/10798359/ccme-good-place-to-be-china-watch-mail-bag.html?kval=dontmiss&s=1#107748056001
The first link is the company's PR, released by the company to Business Wire. I believe the second link is AP's reporting on the PR, not a second release from the company. Often when a company issues a PR it is picked up and echoed through many publications and wire services.
The company's earnings are sitting in cash for the most part and the management is giving conservative guidance - doesn't look like a suspicious situation to me. The trading, however, does look suspicious, with phantom ASKs creating walls that disappear and reappear all day long, and little 100 share trades walking the price down. A large seller wouldn't be pulling his large offer at one price then hitting the bid with 100 shares at a lower price. Doesn't make sense.
And actually the volume has been light during this 2 week drop from the $12s, today was the exception not the rule.
I respect your opinion, you are right to be concerned, as am I. I'm just not seeing any evidence whatsoever that there issues with the company - just the opposite.
There was significant buying at the end of the day, the first I've seen in a long time. Take it any way you'd like.
Where do you get that insiders are selling? Please explain.