Are the trolls back? What a difference a month makes.
When the CKE first quarter results were published, there was no end of enthusiasm for the numbers and the direction the company was heading. Now, just one month later, we have seven successive posts calling for the scalp of the guy who made it all happen - Walter Vrataric .
Are the trolls back ? - Because some of reasons advanced for this bizarre call seem just a bit too naive or simply plain ignorant to be taken seriously.
It seems our poor Walter must go because:
1. He is doing nothing about the alleged stock manipulation. The fact is Canadian law draws a line in the sand to keep separate the interests of a corporation from the interests of its shareholders. If there is stock manipulation going on, it is not the duty of the Company to address it, it is the job of the shareholders. If Walter Vrataric was to pursue this he could only do so in his private capacity - the same as any other shareholder holder. So if “Canadianfemme” and “Stockfy” feel so strongly about it - they should follow it up IIROC (InvestorInquiries@iiroc.ca). We will all be right behind you!
2. He is somehow responsible for the stock price tanking. The fact is that up until about mid last week CKE was doing better than most of its peers. YTD here are some numbers
Chinook - 37%
Bonavista - 44%
Cardinal - 52
Baytex - 58%
Add back the roughly 8- 10c capital dividend that we should be getting from the Craft distribution, and CKE shareholders are doing very well indeed.
3.. He should be out there doing Investor presentations. Do any these posters know how much time and effort is required to mount these dog and pony shows at the countless investor conferences? Add to that the cost - some houses charge hefty fees for an invite. And what good are they doing ? Tourmaline is always big on promoting its stock and CEO Mike Rose is a regular purchaser of its shares. To what end. It seems Tourmaline has been trading in mid twenties forever despite all the analyst target prices in the forties
CKE is a small company. Given the choice of Walter spending his time doing investor presentations or spending the money they cost on another well - I would always opt for the latter.
Hang in there Walter. We are all right behind you - (or at least I hope most of us are!)