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Posts Tagged ‘accounting procedures’

Five More Public Companies Who Need to Learn How to Properly Calculate EBITDA under SEC Rules

Sam Antar Sam Antar makes a request to CFOs, Audit Committees, and auditors of public companies’ financial reports: study the SEC’s rules governing the calculation of non-GAAP measures such as EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization), and follow them. Correct the mistakes before the reports get filed so Sam doesn’t have to write an article and I don’t have to post it.

For example, Penn National Gaming (PENN) erroneously reported EBITDA as earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization AND charges for stock compensation, impairment losses, disposal of assets, losses from unconsolidated affiliates and the Empress Casino Hotel fire--that would be an "Adjusted EBITDA" or in PENN’s case, EBITDASCILDALUAECHFIRE. 

To learn how to read a financial report and discover if the company you’ve invested in is calculating EBITDA properly or inflating this number, read Sam’s article. – Ilene 

Five More Public Companies Who Need to Learn How to Properly Calculate EBITDA under SEC Rules

Courtesy of Sam Antar 

It’s pathetic that so many public companies miscalculate EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) and violate Regulation G governing the calculation of non-GAAP measures such as EBITDA. It seems that too many CFOs, Audit Committees, and auditors don’t take the time to thoroughly review compliance with all appropriate SEC financial reporting rules.

Starting in 2007, I reported improper EBITDA calculations by Overstock.com (NASDAQ: OSTK). After a  brutal yearlong public battle, Overstock.com’s embittered CEO Patrick Byrne finally changed his company’s EBITDA calculation to comply with Regulation G. For additional details, please read Lee Webb’s Stockwatch article and Richard Sauer’s book.

Last July, I reported apparently erroneous EBITDA calculations by Penson Worldwide (NASDAQ: PNSN) and Comtech Telecommunications (NASDAQ: CMTL).

In this blog post, I will report erroneous EBITDA calculations by five more public companies: A. H. Belo Corporation (NYSE: AHC), FirstService Corporation (NASDAQ: FSRV), Animal Health International, Inc. (NASDAQ: AHII), Schawk Inc. (NYSE: SGK), and Penn National Gaming Inc. (NASDAQ: PENN).

First, let’s review how EBITDA supposed to be calculated 

According to the SEC Compliance & Disclosure Interpretations, EBITDA is defined as under Regulation G as net income (not operating income) before interest,…
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Chart School

S&P 500 Snapshot: Happy Trading Ahead of the Fed

Courtesy of Doug Short.

Today's market meme was "pleasant trading ahead of the Fed." The recently troublesome and highly volatile Nikkei finished the day with a minor slip of -0.20%, and the eurozone was on hold with the EURO STOXX 50 closing a hair below flat at -0.07%. On the home front, the June CPI report for May offered no surprises and the housing numbers (permits and starts) were a bit light but not statistically significant. With no news from June FOMC until tomorrow afternoon, the S&P 500 opened at its intraday low, 0.04% above yesterday's close, and traded with no drama to its intraday high, up 0.92%, in the mid-afternoon. The buying eased in the last 45 minutes of trading and the index closed with a modestly trimmed gain of 0.78%.

Here is a 5-minute look at the week s...



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Phil's Favorites

Why Hollywood Hates Wall Street

Why Hollywood Hates Wall Street

Courtesy of JOHN CARNEY, NETNET, via Business Insider

At long last, it appears that Martin Scorsese's "The Wolf of Wall Street" is hitting the big screen.

I say "at long last" because I first started writing about this movie way back in March 2007. In the six years since then, lots have happened—including a massive financial crisis.

The trailer makes the movie look like plenty of fun. It's loaded with the tropes of Wall Street movies—drugs, beautiful women who appear to have post-modern sensibilities, luxury means of transportation, me...



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Zero Hedge

Guest Post: Why We Shouldn't Trust The Fed's Inflation Target

Courtesy of ZeroHedge. View original post here.

Submitted by Tyler Durden.

Submitted by F.F. Wiley via Cyniconomics blog,

Awhile back, I thought it might be interesting to create one of those island economy stories to demonstrate a problem with the Fed’s policy framework. I finally got around to it over the past week, after reading an article on the same policy flaw.

My island story’s relevance won’t be clear right away, but stick with it if you’re wondering what could go wrong with monetary policy (or if you like islands). I’ll show how the Fed’s inflation target can cause policymakers to do the exact opposite of what they should b...



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All About Trends

Mid-Day Update

Reminder: David is available to chat with Members, comments are found below each post.

Click here for the full report.




To learn more, sign up for David's free newsletter and receive the free report from All About Trends - "How To Outperform 90% Of Wall Street With Just $500 A Week." Tell David PSW sent you. - Ilene...

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Market Montage

1995 Redux

Submitted by Mark Hanna

Courtesy of MarketMontage. View original post here.

After the volatile session yesterday, the S&P 500 has broken back above the channel we have been discussing for a few weeks and now the Russell 2000 and NASDAQ appear to be joining (was not the case yesterday).  If not for the focus on the FOMC presser tomorrow you'd have a nice clean breakout starting here.  Tomorrow is of course a major wildcard.

On a related note – the 50 day moving average has been quite the support in 2013. In fact no year other than 1995 in the past 30 comes close to what we are seeing this year.  ...



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Insider Scoop

AdCare Health Systems Receives Approval from NYSE MKT of Compliance Plan

Courtesy of Benzinga.

AdCare Health Systems, (NYSE: ADK), a leading long-term care provider, today announced that, on June 13, 2013, the Company received a notice from the NYSE MKT LLC (the "Exchange") indicating that the Company's plan to regain compliance with certain of the Exchange's continued listing standards was accepted.

As previously announced, on May 17, 2013, the Company received a deficiency letter from the Exchange indicating that the Company is not in compliance with Sections 134 and 1101 of the Exchange's Company Guide (the "Company Guide") due to the Company's indication in its Form 12b-25, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") on April 16, 2013, that the Company would not file its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2013 (the "Form 10-Q"...



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Sabrient

What the Market Wants: Market Will Likely Challenge Earlier Highs this Week

Reminder: Sabrient is available to chat with Members, comments are found below each post.

Courtesy of David Brown, Sabrient Systems and Gradient Analytics

The market responded well today to good economic news and to the positive and somewhat surprising response to the election of a moderate Iranian President.  Some moderation in Turkey didn’t hurt either, and overnight positive markets in Asia and Europe gave bullish investors enough encouragement to buy equities broadly. 

This drove all three major domestic indices up about 1% before a late small selloff left the S&P 500 Index up nearly 1% and the Nasdaq and Dow Jones Industrial Average both up well over 0.5%.  We think it likely this week that the market will challenge highs set in late May.

Today’s positive economic news inclu...



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Option Review

Bears Eye Alpha Natural Resources Options

Today’s tickers: ANR, DWA & PVR

ANR - Alpha Natural Resources, Inc. – Front month put options changing hands on coal producer, Alpha Natural Resources, Inc., this morning suggests some traders are positioning for shares in the name to extend losses, with the stock down roughly 8.0% to a six-month low of $5.50. Coal stocks are being pressured for a second consecutive session on news released Friday that Walter Energy pulled out of a $1.55 billion refinancing loan due to market conditions. Traders bracing for Alpha’s shares to continue to slide in the near term snappe...



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Stock World Weekly

Stock World Weekly

NEW: Writers are available to chat with Members regarding topics presented in SWW, comments are found below each post.

Click here for the latest Stock World Weekly.  Sign in with your PSW user name and password, or sign up for a free trial. There's an interesting option trade on LULU presented in the newsletter this week. 

Trivia on lululemon via Paul Price, article found in NYTimes. 

Lululemon Athletica Combines Ayn Rand and Yoga

By 

...



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OpTrader

Swing trading portfolio - week of June 17th, 2013

Reminder: OpTrader is available to chat with Members, comments are found below each post.

This post is for all our live virtual trade ideas and daily comments. Please click on "comments" below to follow our live discussion. All of our current  trades are listed in the spreadsheet below, with entry price (1/2 in and All in), and exit prices (1/3 out, 2/3 out, and All out).

We also indicate our stop, which is most of the time the "5 day moving average". All trades, unless indicated, are front-month ATM options. 

Please feel free to participate in the discussion and ask any questions you might have about this virtual portfolio, by clicking on the "comments" link right below.

To learn more about the swing trading virtual portfolio (strategy, performance, FAQ, etc.), please click here

Optrader 

...

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IRA Strategy/Income Trader

The IRA portfolio

Reminder: Craigzooka is available to chat with Members regarding his virtual portfolio performance, comments are found below each post.

By Craigzooka

I am going to share with you how I manage my IRA and the power of reducing your cost basis.  My goal each year is a 20% return in my IRA.  Sometimes I make it and sometimes I don't, but I believe that all of my success is due to reducing my cost basis.  To illustrate the power of reducing your cost basis here are some trades we did last year.  These trades are taken from an educational portfolio we ran in a paper-trading account for a little more than a year.

  • We bought RIG on 5/15/2012 for $44.13, sold it on 1/18/2013 for $46 but booked a profit of $1,154.
  • We bought MT on 1/4/2012 for $19.24, sold it on 12/21/2012 for $15 but booked a profit of $454.
  • We bought CHK on 1/27/2012 for $21.93, sold it on 10/19/2012 for $18 b...


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ETF Selector

Stock Market Gets Big News After Friday’s Close

Courtesy of John Nyaradi.

Stock market posts another record setting week, but the big news came after Friday’s close.

Courtesy of NASA

The stock market put on another record setting show with the Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSEARCA:DIA) closing at a record high 15,118 and the S&P 500 (NYSEARCA:SPY) closing at 1633.70, another all time closing high.

For the week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSEARCA:DIA) gained 1%, the S&P 500 (NYSEARCA:SPY) climbed 1.2%, the Nasdaq Composite (NYSEARCA:...



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Pharmboy

Give Them an Inch, They Will Take a Mile

Reminder: Pharmboy is available to chat with Members, comments are found below each post.

Well, well, well....it is good to know that there are others in the scientific arena who believed that YMI Bioscience's data (cough - Gilead) is a better drug than Incyte's Jakafi.  Now, the definitive data are still unknown, but there was enough evidence from a Phase 2 trial to take a small risk for a huge reward.  So, let's forget about Apple (AAPL), and do nothing but biotechs from now until Congress passes universal health care coverage for prescriptions....and drive the prices down so that research and development is no longer feasible to conduct in the US. Even Seattle Genetics (SGEN) has been on a tear as of late...



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Philip R. Davis is a founder Phil's Stock World, a stock and options trading site that teaches the art of options trading to newcomers and devises advanced strategies for expert traders...

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