I don't disagree with you or Headley, just a different perspective on timing and strategy.
Let's look at how the company has operated this past year, the first year they have been public. Their business has been exploding. As the cash grew, they initially took a conservative stance as they weren't sure the economy was going to hold up beyond the massive China stimulus and huge post-2008 bounce. At the same time they have been publicly talking about ways to grow the company without compromising margins. They uplisted from Amex to the Nasdaq Global Select exchange. All of this seems prudent and reasonable to me.
In the last quarter, they seem to have shifted their tone and are talking now about implementing growth strategy. They have also done A LOT with regards to the share price, including a tons of conferences, private meetings with analysts and investors, a very thorough open house with advertisers and other partners on the premises, plus they set up the buyback plan and have publicly responded to investors re a dividend. The stock went from $7 to $22 in a few weeks after they took all of these steps. It has now retraced 50% of that move, IMO it has as much to do with RINO, CEU, and stockgod as anything else, but a 50% retrace isn't unusual for a parabolic move and does not indicate that the stock is not going to continue upwards.
According to the last CC, they are incorporating dividend into the 2011 budget and growth planning process. Makes sense to me and that's what a confident company would do. How can they implement a meaningful recurring dividend without incorporating that outlay into their budget and capital expenditure planning, especially as they are a high-growth company with major plans going forward?
It's a volatile stock, but I don't see any reason to panic, on the contrary I am looking forward to significant growth in 2011 in the core business, significant expansion of airport routes, a 15% rate increase, new business initiatives that have been thoroughly vetted and planned, and a dividend that will not compromise growth strategy. The stock action is insane, though, wish it was a smoother ride.
