Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
Wow, $4500 worth of the stock. That'll rock the market when they sell off.
The next question is "who's next on the list"?
stockdoc
Strange how they both found new employment opportunites at the same time. Maybe a new Burger King opened up in town.
stockdoc
If you can't make money the real way, cut expenses. Now, if they could just get rid of Coats.....$779,000 a year. I know someone's got to be the CEO, but his salary is probably more than the the company clears in a year.
stockdoc:)
This is the company that they noted in Buyins.net. It usually has a run-up until the day after the earnings report comes out. Then, disappointment sets in and the stock drops. It could be a little different now because the company should be coming out with a statement that delisting is no longer a problem. That might make investors happy.
The bottom line is profits and guidance for the rest of the year. Let's hope that Coats doesn't start moaning about ABTL being too small of a company to be listed on the exchange.
stockdoc
Have we, at least for the moment, hit a little bit of a bottom? If the "asks" don't start turning chicken, we could see a gain for the day. So far, it's looking good.
ABTL had better come up with some good earnings. There's plenty of opportunity for ad revenues...big time. That's especially true since GM pulled their ads from Facebook. They have to put their money somewhere, and it's not newspapers.
stockdoc
Before getting anymore, I think I would wait it out until it showed some signs of ending the sell-off. I would rather see if I could find the bottom and pick it up on the up-trend. I might lose a little bit of money, but I would feel better about the whole situation seeing it moving up instead of down. I just have no idea where the bottom is.
Anyways, it's good to see you two buying. That says something.
stockdoc
I hope things work out with your latest purchase. I just wish that this stock would show some signs of coming to life. All we're seeing so far is the price going down.
stockdoc
The only way that I can see for Coats to help this company is to resign and take his BOD with him. Actually there are two ways. The second way is to sell this company to someone who knows what they're doing.
Coats has stated publically that he just doesn't understand too many things about this company and that it's too hard running a company this size on a publically traded exchange. What's that tell you?
stockdoc
The bad part is that the immediate reaction is cause the stock to go down to the price that it was prior to the split. The good part is that if the company is financially sound, the stock does very well, and goes way up past the split-price.
ABTL is, as you know, doing okay, so eventually it should do very well. The split is just another one of those actions that sets the stock back for months or even longer.
stockdoc
The bad news did come out: ABTL approved to do a 5:1 split. This stock now has a red flag attached to it, and traders are on the alert and will have to really find some inducement to buy it.
They should have just left it the way it was instead of telling the whole world that they couldn't manage to get it above a dollar. If what I've read is true about stocks in ABTL's situation, we're just getting started, and it isn't good.
Coats is an idiot.
stockdoc
Honestly, no. There are just too many unknowns that could make major differences.
What really worries me is the markets perception of a company that does a reverse split. That worries me big time, and all we're seeing so far is ABTL heading back down.
stockdoc
Yes, August sometime. Probably the first week of the month or so.
stockdoc
With newspapers going out of business, and television stations being dominated by local auto dealer advertising, I would think that the advertising dollars would be migrating to the internet sites.
ABTL really shouldn't have much trouble picking up a large amount of that advertising, and, and the cost of including advertising for ABTL is supposed to be fairly low and has a high profit margin. It's all up to ABTL to go out there and aggressively pursue advertising.
stockdoc
Spartak, it's all about perception, and Coats ain't got a clue. He never understood why the companys stock is undervalued, and this R/S stinks of desperation. I hate to say it, but it wouldn't surprise me if this stock was selling for more than $1.50 by the end of the year. He sure knows how to blow the hell out of a company, and he did an excellent job of it at the last conference (or maybe the one before that) he went to.
Time to clean this company out, get rid of Coats, get rid of the blood-sucking BOD.
stockdoc
So, does anyone really know what this stock closed at? One says 3.75, another one says 3.95, and another one says 4.00. Not that it makes any big difference, but it would be nice to know.
thanks,
stockdoc
Looks kind of like another go-no-where day. I was hoping that 99% of management would be placed in an institution.
So far, the R/S has failed to impress. Got to give the market time to digest everything that's happened. Actually, I thought we already did that, but maybe the market's just too slow.
stockdoc
It kind of comes down to either being an optimist about this R/S or selling out. I'm so used to seeing .77, .78, etc that I have to remember that $3.85 is my new basis for comparison from the previous days price.
So, I'll quit complaining and just see what the price does. It would be great if we could work our way past the $5 share price and see if we can attract some new institutional buying prevously not allowed.
stockdoc
The key word for today is "Chaos". Be sure to check with your broker to make sure that they've complied with the split. According to the information contained on my brokers website, I lost 55% of my investment overnight. Things should straighten out as the day moves on.
Looks like many investors didn't know about the reverse split.
stockdoc
Now, for the big question, and this is about as serious as it can get, "will this reverse split help keep the price up, or will people who are used to seeing it at .75-.80 think it's way overpriced and start bidding it down again to .80"
I know it sounds like a no-brainer, but we've all seen this sort of thing happen in the past.
stockdoc
Another "WoW". Did you all see that? Two trades by 1:20pm. I don't think I've ever seen any other stock trade like this one with the exception of a couple that were going bankrupt. Even those companies traded hundreds of thousands of shares when they did a reverse split.
stockdoc
Wow, everyone's really impressed with the reverse split and all the rest of the PR this company's done. Look at the buyers lined up to buy into ABTL!!! Just look at that volume!! Everyone better buckle up, we're going for the big one this time.
Hold on for a second.....that was just a dream. Now, back to reality. Yepp, ABTL with a volume of 500 shares trade by 11:00 am.
Good job Coats, let's not let anyone get overly enthused about this company.
stockdoc
You're going to sell ABTL???? To who?? You'll have to pay someone to take it off your hands. Autotrader is (as you said) much more desirable since they only owe a zillion dollars or so.
The last I heard, the repo guys were wheeling Coats chair out the door. Don't quote me on that.
stockdoc:(
Just another day like 99% of all the others. Stock opens lower than previous close and takes all day to recover (maybe). I wouldn't know what to do if it opened higher than the previous day and actually showed any signs of staying up.
Seems like most people can't wait to get rid of it, even if it costs them money to do it. Crap.
stockdoc
You better not rat on me, I have friends in high places.
stockdoc :(
It's obvious something's wrong. We know this isn't ABTL!!!! I don't know what it is, but somebody must have gotten things all screwed up. ABTL can't do anything except go down a little bit every day. Time to contact the SEC, the FBI, and the CIA.
stockdoc
Autobytel had all those Facebook car reviews on line and didn't even bother to tell anyone about them for quite some time. How many people used Facebook to look up Autobytel? I never did, never thought about doing something like that. Maybe someone at ABTL should give up their afternoon nap and do a little publicity seeking.
I see that ABTL's doing more now than they used to, but it's usually some silly stuff that no one really cares about. They hired some firm to get their name out to Wall Street, and that hasn't done any good. Money wasted as far as I can see.
Seems like ABTL management just can't do anything to impress anyone.
stockdoc......Zzzzzzz
A lot of people took the week off (including my broker). Low volume, and no one's very impressed by Autobytel.
Time to take an Autobytel-induced nap. Ho-humm......
stockdoc
confusedtrader, sounds to me like you aren't confused at all. Everything you posted sounds good (or bad depending on how you look at it).
The only thing that stands out, is the cost of doing business. It is high, but no where as high as it used to be before the previous management slashed the payroll. If they hadn't done that, ABTL wouldn't be here anymore. It would have gone bankrupt due to a bloated payroll.
Too bad they can't cut payroll some more by cutting Coats salary. He's clearing about a million a year running a microcap stock. I'm sure he's had the approval of his BOD buddies who set his pay rate.
The stock's going to do a reverse split. 80% of the shares voted in favor of doing that. Results: the market doesn't like that.
Coats gave a positive outlook for the whole year. ABTL will continue making a profit: Results: the market doesn't like that.
Coats is giving dog and pony shows: Results: the market doesn't like that.
ABTL's raking in cash and has about $11 million on hand. Results: the market doesn't like that.
ABTL was close to a dollar (in fact, they hit $1.52 intraday) before they were making any money. Now, they're making money and the stock's .75. Conclusion: the market likes it better when the company's losing money.
I don't get it. I know the company's somewhat screwed up, but they are making more now than they did a year ago, but it's not reflected in the price.
stockdoc
Market up 212 points, ABTL going down 1.5-2.0 cents again, and again, and again. I really get the feeling that Coats isn't liked. Maybe he should stay away from those conferences.
Whatever happened with the company that was supposed to help ABTL get the word out to Wall Street about how well the company's doing?
stockdoc
Poorish, I'm glad to see that some people (or maybe most people) don't see the R/S as a bad move. Since managment claims that 80% of the shareholders voted in favor of it, that says a lot about the situation. As I said before, I'll be very happy to see my opinion proven wrong.
What I don't understand is "if the R/S is a good thing, why is the stock price going down"? It should be going up, not down.
stockdoc
Another crappy day for the market, and ABTL's stuck in the swamp again. For the market in general, it's one crisis after another. That's been going on for the last 20 years or so. Something's always screwed up.
It seems like ABTL (soon to be ABTLD), wouldn't go up even if they found a gold mine under the building they're in.
stockdoc :(
It was a contest of wills, right up to the last trade. A buyer finally blinked and bought in, thus raising the price a penny over yesterdays close.
Things are really tough when you have to take it right down to the last trade to squeeze one penny out of this thing. The stock should be trading at least over a dollar, and we're still screwing around trying to break .77. Ain't no justice when it comes to the stock market.
stockdoc
Me too. There isn't much point in selling off at these prices. We're showing a little bit of strength, and maybe a number of those who were concerned about being delisted will start buying back in.
I don't like a lot of stuff about this company, but I think the stock price will eventually be significantly higher than it is now. It's just a matter of how it gets there....buyout or the market starts paying attention to Coats (the million dollar man).
stockdoc
Yes, the rosey picture is what they always tell you about. Honestly, the one picture that Coats painted for us turned out to be true. At least the company is using about 70% of its own internally generated leads. If it hadn't been for that acquisition, we would be back at .25 a share and hoping for our first quarter of profits.
We really need some advertising revenues to pad the profit. Ad revenue is cheap to integrate into the ABTL site, and it's very high profit margin. Let's hope ABTL gets some contracts from OEM's.
At least the stock closed up 4.4 cents.
stockdoc
Just for example:
Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO: Salary, $1.38 million
Number of employees: 90,000
Jeffrey Coats, Autobytel CEO: Salary, $790K + 200K per year moving expenses
Number of employees: 121
Steve Ballmer should take lessons from Coats.
stockdoc
Coats said that they don't have to have anymore cash to buy whatever they want. Then, in the next presentation he did, Coats said they wouldn't have to go after any "meaningful amount of cash". He can't make up his mind what he wants to do.
When companies do acquisitions, it usually takes at least a year to integrate the acquisition, decide which employees to lay off, pay off the old management, and get things back to normal and working right. That kind of screws up the balance sheets for at least a year, and enough is enough. I definitely agree, Coats and his crew have done enough damage. Sell the company ASAP and get better management in there before these guys do anymore damage.
stockdoc
I think that takes some explanation. I don't see how that works, but.....
I checked on one of the Scripps owned sites, and Autobytel doesn't have any of their items/articles/advertisements or anything on it. I'm not sure how much good it will do for them, but it's better than nothing.
As far as the R/S is concerned, the market doesn't like it so far. My hope is that those who voted their 80% of their shares for the reverse split knew what they were doing. I think they were totally wrong, but we'll see what happens. This is one time that I hope I'm wrong.
stockdoc
That's kind of like saying that if we survive the first nuclear attack, we'll be okay. I wonder what other brilliant ideas Coats has? He took a stock that's been around for about 15 years and just blew the crap out of it. He wasn't satisfied telling the world that the company's only been profitible 3 out of the last 15 years and that it's too hard being a small company on the stock exchange, he has to go and do a friggin reverse split.
Believe me, it's going to be a lot harder going from $3.75 to 18.75 than it would be to go from .70 to 3.50. Both are a 5:1 ratio, but traders don't look at it that way. All those 100, 200, and 300 share lots are going to disappear after the reverse split because they would cost 5x as much as they did previously. We have trouble opening before noon now. What's it going be like after July 12th?
These guys better know what they're doing because right now, it looks like they just jumped off the cliff and they're taking us with them.
stockdoc
If anyone can see any material good coming out of this reverse split, please post what it is. I need a boost about now. If 80% of the shares were in favor of it, there must be something I'm missing.
The only good thing my broker can see is the possibility of some funds buying in that couldn't do it before. Most funds have a lower limit price per share of $5. Some of the other funds have a lower limit of $2.
stockdoc