A shorts storyThe dreaded “short report” is an article or research report that focusses on anything and everything negative about a company and tries to make it sound like the most inept or corrupt organization on the planet, typically for the benefit of the author and their acquaintances. Granted in some instances analysis of this type is warranted, but in many cases it’s more of an attempt to make a mountain out of a mole hill and take advantage of “weak” shareholders. By that I mean investors who don’t read each quarterly MD&A, the latest corporate presentation, or Annual Information Form and who could get spooked by what sounds like a legitimate negative case without fully understanding the positive case which led them to invest in the first place. I will give short report authors credit as they typically have done plenty of homework and likely know a lot more about what’s going on in a company than the average long investor, but it isn’t always the fairest representation of a company.