A New Year! And saved by yet another year of wealth destruction by ATB on the last trade of the year - that is if your benchmark is cash! Kind of like watching a basketball game:)
I suppose this can be viewed as the end of a 60% decline from an all time high of $29.77 that was reached within days of the CEO assuming his duties in July 2007 (which led me to discover his stock options conveniently have a grant date of the day of his announcement versus the day he assumed his duties).
Despite over $300 million of acquisitons since Mucos, the company will make roughly the same as it did 5 years ago.
Management permitted this stock to trade well below book value for an entire year! How is not using every dollar of free cash flow to get a refund on all your acquisitons not "appropriate" and "in the best interest of your shareholders?" In lieu, the CEO stated earlier in the year he would use excess cash to de-lever "approximately 500 bps a year." He has paid down debt be he's yet to de-lever!
If they really wanted to repurchase shares, they would setup blind purchases during the earnings blackout to take advantage of the stock capitulating like it did last quarter.
The disgusting valuation should fall on the board and not on shareholders. Despite the frustration, no holder should be selling loonies for quarters. If the CEO doesn't have a credible plan to get the stock north of $18, then he should resign.
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results