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VOTE....the meeting is coming up June 20th.
For me, I'm voting against any and all of the current board. They've been screwing shareholders long enough, and maybe it's time to get rid of them. For whatever good it does, I'm voting against the current BOD.
stockdoc
The only thing that I heard different on todays webcast was the spot ads on the radio. I take you back to the old days when ABTL spent a ton of money on that nonsense before. ABTL was rolling in cash from their IPO and bought time on the Super Bowl ads. They did basically nothing.
Then, they started throwing money around here, there, and everywhere trying to get the publics attention. They even tossed a pile of money at one of the symphony orchestras. They only thing that they got for that was a seat in the audience for the CEO.
Right now, ABTL's stinking of desperation. Start spending their cash on this, that, and everything to try to squeeze out a few extra pennies on the bottom line. This isn't the way to run a business. The only good thing they had was a pile of cash, and now they're figuring out ways of eating that up. What it sort of comes down to is that there just isn't that much of a need for their business. Their main competitor, Autoweb found that out the hard way. They went out of business. This is a lot like Sirius radio and the old XMSR, a competitor of Sirius. XMSR finally had to sell out to Sirius. Just not enough of a market for their product.
No dividend, not much of a market, and the only thing that Coats can come up with is radio ads. I'm really finding it hard to see that ABTL has a great future. Todays CC only got one commentator, and he really sounded unhappy. If anyone sees any reason to stay invested here, please let me know. I'm ready to call it quits.
stockdoc
Crappy report, crappy telecom, crappy response to Apollo inquiry. ABTL's on life-support and in a coma. The company's great for Jeff and his gang of legalized thieves. Not good for us.
In any case, no dividend. Jeff didn't have to say it outright, but that's what it comes to.
I see big sell-off coming over the next couple of days.
stockdoc
Same old stuff. Time to look for something better to invest in.
Stockdoc
It's a sad thing to see. This stock can't even make it to 90 cents presplit. From what I can figure, they will be reporting 4 to 5 cents a share profit unless they come up with another one of their one-time expenses like they've done so many times before.
Their annual meeting for shareholders is just one big give-away. Unfortunately, it's going to be one of those deals that the current BOD gets two of its current members reelected, and more "incentive pay" for their employees. That's more out of our pockets for doing work that they should already be doing, but then, whoever said that the shareholders count?
stockdoc
Just look at all the excitement! Everyone's really waiting on the edge of their seats about ABTL's upcoming earnings announcement. Please, everyone, control yourselves.
Stockdoc
My question is, "is this company just going to continue making a few cents every quarter with nothing better in sight"? If that's the case, then there's no point holding this stock any longer
stockdoc
That would be a big plus for ABTL. At least, ABTL would be doing something or than sitting around and watching the world go by.
As far as a dollar a share special dividend, it would be better to break that up into two half dollar dividends issued in two calendar years from the taxation standpoint. Funds would be hit hard (me too).
Where did you hear this rumor if you don't mind me asking? I'm totally out of the rumor loop.
stockdoc
Well, to get things going, I've contacted three of the largest shareholding funds. If I see any interest on their part, I'll continue and contact the other funds holding a sizable number of shares.
stockdoc
After seeing ABTL's proposals, I figured it's about time to try to rally some support to set things right at ABTL. Maybe I'm over-reacting, but it looks to me like ABTL management thinks the shareholders are just a bunch of idiots who will go along with anything they throw out there for a vote.
I know what will happen if we do nothing. Let's see if we can convince ABTL to do something for the people who have their money invested in this company.
stockdoc
Excuse me, the meeting's on June 20th.
The next item....Re-election of Fuchs: absolutely and positively NO: dump him and the rest of the blood-sucking BOD. They're doing absolutely nothing but taking our money, and doing nothing for it.
Unless all of you shareholders want to sit back and watch current management take more and more of your money, I urge you to write to Coghill and some of the other large shareholders and urge them to vote NO on these issues that allow ABTL management to legally steal your money and do nothing iin your behalf.
Stockdoc.
June13th meeting and votes: Proposal 5: I Hope everyone votes NO. Can't anyone do their job without having to be bribed to do it? When's the last time anyone of us had to be promised big bonuses to do a good job. This is just a damned poor substitute for managements inability to motivate employees. Just another reason to dump ABTL current management.
Stockdoc.
Nothing short of the equivalent of a financial nuclear detonation will get this stock moving. My guess is that they're saving that cash ($15 million) to eventually take this company private. Coats doesn't like this company being on the stock market and has said that a couple of times. They've already bought up part of the stock that was on the open market, so they already have a head-start. He's stated that it costs too much money being registered as a public company, so at some point I expect an announcement that they're going to go private.
If they don't go private, they'll still do fairly well. Predictions for their profits are more than double what they currently are. Of course, there's a lot of variables in that equation that no one can predict.
stockdoc
Dow Jones...at record high. Nasdaq...Up to several year high. ABTL....still at where it was presplit. I don't even want to think about how much I've given up by staying with ABTL over the last year or two. Thanks Mr. Coats for your concern about shareholders. Well, the BOD is happy, and that's what really counts....right?
stockdoc
The big problem is that ABTL can lose all its gains in a couple of trades. Coats & Gang has to come up with a good strategy in the near future or the funds are going to start doing some serious selling of their holdings.(currently at 48% of the outstanding shares)
stockdoc
So, essentially, Coats is saying that there's not much good that we can expect to see as far as boosting ABTL's business. That's the way I see it. Any increase in business/revenues is going to have too come from the what they already have. That's not all that bad, but nothing spectacular.
They have several avenues that they can pursue with their business:
1) just continue as they are
2) sell the business
3) merge with, say, Kelly or Edmunds
4) go private
Anything else anyone can think of?
They better not "externalize" management. That's one of the latest trends to give management more money. If you see that as a proposal, sell.
stockdoc
ABTL really looks like a dead issue to me. The longer I look and the more that I see that Coats is just stringing us along. Same comment quarter after quarter,..."thanks for your patience" says Coats. I just don't see that he's concerned about anything but himself. He won't put his own money into the company, won't do anything with the $15 million or so he has in cash, won't give us any idea what they're doing. ABTL can't even make it to a dollar presplit after all this time.
This company's really beginning to scare me. Maybe everyone else who isn't invested in ABTL sees some dangers here that we don't. Coats may have plans for the millions, and the plans may not involve ABTL shareholders. I'm really beginning to wonder.
stockdoc
That's about the third time that one of the callers pushed Coats/ABTL to issue a dividend. ABTL can't seem to find anything good to do with all that cash, and they still won't do a dividend. The dividend should be sustainable, and with business going as it is, sustainability for at least three or four years seems possible.
So, what are they going to do with all that cash? They never want to answer that question. Either they just don't know, or they have something in mind. They can't just sit there being stupid about the whole thing....or can they?
stockdoc
The problem is, ABTL might just decide to sell the company. (yeah, sure) If that happens, the stock will very likely go flying up before you have a chance to buy back in.
I know you've heard that a thousand times before, but, you never know what's going to happen from day to day. It's a real tough call. Right now, as ever, it's just more crap.
stockdoc
Spartak, please note that the pay's still the same for your old job here on Ihub..."zero". Likewise for the benefits.
stockdoc
We have to keep ABTL management happy. Coats can't do his job properly if he has to worry about when and how he's going to get his next Rolls-Royce. So, be nice.
stockdoc
P.S. Your old job's still open here on Ihub.
Funds are holding millions of shares, and we're not seeing anywhere near that kind of volume trading. Ihub's just showing the usual mom and pop shares, so I kind of doubt that funds are doing their change-outs. Although the volume's higher than usual it just looks to me like average shareholders are getting tired of holding a losing stock in a record breaking market. Also, breaking under the $4 mark probably triggered sales. Looks like that's where we're headed...under $4.
Stockdoc
We just live or die once every three months when the quarterly report comes out. Nothing much in between unless we get some interesting PR.
I hope he didn't go broke buying stock just to help the shareholders out.
stockdoc
Don't you wonder about who ABTL management thinks they're fooling when they make these small buys? When insiders buy stock in their own company, the alarm bell goes off in some of these investment services and alerts go out to their subscribers. The problem is, of course, that when investors see how many shares insiders are actually buying in ABTL, they probably just laugh it off. That just makes ABTL look foolish and does more harm than it does good.
stockdoc
DeWalt: 700 shares. Looks like Coats is cracking the whip and trying to make it look like there's heavy insider trading going on. Let's see if coats gives up lunch for a couple days and uses the money to buy a couple shares.
Stockdoc
I see that ABTL just came through with an SEC filing. Steerman bought 1200 shares of ABTL. Too bad Coats doesn't make a few purchases to show his confidence in ABTL's future.
stockdoc
One says $5, and the other says $7. Do we get to choose which one we want? Nice to see that there's some positive opinions of what ABTL is doing.
Geronimo, thanks for the postings.
stockdoc
I was hoping that they might hit .20 per share for the year but, of course, that was way too much to expect. My greatest concern is that ABTL is just going to keep going along, year after year, making the same kind of earnings they are now.
That's especially true considering that ABTL always claimed that as soon as vehicle sales went back to previous levels that they would be back making some good earnings. Here we are, vehicle sales headed for 14.5 million for the year, and ABTL not doing much of anything. If this is ABTL's future, then we should all move on.
stockdoc
Nice to see that we're on the upside today. After Friday's beating, I was really concerned that we were going to go down somemore today.
Glad to see we have a few people buying.
stockdoc
My average is ridiculously high owing to the fact that I bought when this company was actually worth something and management was doing something more than collecting big salaries and watching the world go by.
As with many investors, my main concern is that as soon as I hit the "sell" button, these guys at ABTL will decide to do something half way productive and crank the price of the stock up. It really is undervalued, and with just about any other management, I believe the stock could be appreciably higher.
Sell or hold...I don't know. I wouldn't advise anyone either way. The only thing I see in it's favor is that the company is making some modest improvement and it looks like it will continue throughout the rest of this year. (emphasis on the word "modest")
Dividend: no
More buy Rec's: maybe, but analysts just don't see much from currect management.
More Acquisitions: possibly, but they already cherry-picked the best one.
Sell ABTL: maybe, but management and the BOD doesn't want to lose their big salaries and perq's.
All opinions welcome.
stockdoc
Spartak, sorry to see you go, but I understand totally. Putting up with the pain that we get each and every quarter isn't easy, and it isn't necessary. There are plenty of other companies out there willing to work and do something in behalf of its shareholders...believe it or not. Not all companies are like ABTL and its poor excuse for management. Coats said they're clearing a million a quarter, and doing nothing with it. These jerks couldn't even bring the price up to a buck (presplit).
To sum things, the market doesn't like Autobytel, it doesn't like Coats, and probably never will. Autobytel is a totally boring, lack-luster company with management that has no vision and no concern for shareholders. I'll be so happy to sell all my ABTL stock and move on to a different company that has a future.
stockdoc
Autobytel sitting on their hands again. What's so hard about doing like the guy said, "if you aren't doing anything with the cash and you aren't getting any interest, give the money back to shareholders as a dividend".
If they can't doing anything worthwhile with the cash, I can, and I can do a lot with it.
stockdoc
Another miss.
Stockdoc
I just got the Autobytel hype of the month. ABTL taking credit
for four percent of the new car retail sales over the last two years. They're running slightly short of what they predicted quite some time ago.
stockdoc
I'm really hoping that they come out with some surprisingly good earnings. I also hope the Easter Bunny will stop by my house and leave an Easter basket. Shows how far gone I am.
If Coats' guidance is accurate, we'll all be sitting here tomorrow asking why we stayed with ABTL. Maybe next quarters report will be better.
stockdoc :(
Incidentally, if you listen to any reports on Apple Computer, it sounds the same in many ways as ABTL. Sitting with a lot of cash that they won't give away as dividends, and nothing good for the company to invest in. Shareholders are upset.
For as long as I can remember, ABTL has always come out with the earnings on a Thursday. If the earnings are good, the public's lost interest by Monday. Investors do, however, always seem to remember bad earnings the following week and follow through with more selling.
Just some more bad timing by ABTL.
We really need Schwartz or Lorimer back, working for ABTL. Schwartz might have been cooking the books, but he did a good job of it. Lorimer,...well, he always seemed like a fun-guy...unlike Coats who should be working at a funeral home.
stockdoc
Institutional holdings up about another 3% just prior to earnings release. Better than a drop. Good luck all. ABTL better make an excellent showing today.
stockdoc
Unfortunately, you're probably right. I can't recall the time that ABTL has rallied after an earnings call. ABTL actually has a reputation of falling after an earnings call, and that doesn't even depend on whether or not the earnings are good or not.
Stockdoc