Sinclair stock rises after Kerry film dropped (Reuters)

[Bozita]

the day is still young.


http://yahoo.reuters.com/financeQuoteCompanyNewsArticle.jhtml?duid=mtfh76130_2004-10-20_15-10-47_n20543691_newsml

Sinclair stock rises after Kerry film droppped
Wed Oct 20, 2004 11:10 AM ET

NEW YORK, Oct 20 (Reuters) - Shares of Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. (SBGI.O: Quote, Profile, Research) jumped nearly 9 percent on Wednesday, a day after the TV station owner backed away from plans to air a film critical of Sen. John Kerry that Democrats have said is a blatant political statement masquerading as news.

Sinclair said after Tuesday's market close that it would only run portions of the program "Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal, about the Democratic presidential candidate's anti-war activities 30 years ago as part of an hour-long special on Friday.

Sinclair shares had dropped sharply since the controversy began earlier this month amid concern over a possible advertising boycott and potential legal and regulatory issues stemming from the controversy. Democrats have demanded equal air time from Sinclair, whose top executives have been major contributors to Republicans in recent years.

Shares rose 55 cents to $6.81 on Wednesday morning on the Nasdaq, but the stock still is down 54 percent year to date in part on Sinclair's struggles with an unsteady advertising market. It had fallen by more than 16 percent after news came out that it planned to air the controversial film.

more...

[Javaman]

1. Funny how that works.

[Norquist Nemesis]

2. Portions and then some

more SwiftvetsforBush propoganda.

Sorry, I don't see how they've 'backed off'. They've modified it to make it more palatable for advertisers and investors. That's about all.

[Kierkegaard]

18. Even worse than that.

Image them editing out any possible high points and saving the really disagreeable parts for their 'news cast.' They have only reduced the trash down to a more digestible portion for an impatient audience that likes their news short and sweet. Couple that with some spin thrown in by an anchor, and this may in fact be worse than airing the movie in it's entirety.

We mustn't stop beating this horse until we are sure it is dead!

[jdj]

26. It's all about the stock rating, isn't it?

This is just to appease the stockholders.

The only good thing I think could come of this is that the WaPo headline is so midleading that maybe folks who were planning on watching it will go, oh well, guess I'll mark that off my calendar

[Tesibria]

3. Risk Alert still very high

http://www.investor.reuters.com/SellAlerts.aspx?ticker=SBGI.O&target=sellalerts%2fsummary



Tests..........................Grade
Estimate Revisions...........Fail
Analyst Recommendation..Fail
Institutional Selling...........Fail
Shorted Shares...............Pass
Price Deterioration............Fail
Price Momentum..............Fail

[chimpy the poopthrower]

4. I can't believe people are falling for this!!!

Sinclair has not backed off from anything! The boycott is still on!

[auburngrad82]

10. Exactly

They said they aren't going to show the program "in its entirety." That doesn't mean they aren't going to show it. It's all bullshit. I'm still boycotting any company that advertises on Sinclair's stations.

[dilloduck]

5. hoping

I was sorta hoping they would show it---I think there would be a back-lash of folks who would see it as dirty politics and vote against george

[Reciprocity]

6. Wake up!!!

They are still going to show the film.

Sinclair said after Tuesday's market close that it would only run portions of the program "Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal, about the Democratic presidential candidate's anti-war activities 30 years ago as part of an hour-long special on Friday.

[gWbush is Mabus]

7. all they did was change the TITLE of the film

[Reciprocity]

8. 6.90 USD 0.64 (10.22%)

Last 11:49 am 6.90 Prev. Close 6.26

Change 0.64 Open 6.50
10.22%

Bid - Day's High 6.92
size (00s) -

Ask - Day's Low 6.46
size (00s) -

Tics Volume 1113731

[demokatgurrl]

9. It HASN'T been dropped, keep the pressure on!!!! n/t

[chimpy the poopthrower]

11. What if the stock is being manipulated?!

I posted this in GD under a thread asking why the Sinclair stock is up, but I think it's worth posting here:

At first I thought it was because people are dumb-asses.

Now I wonder if Sinclair is manipulating its own stock. Remember that Sinclair execs sold a lot of their stock when it was at $14. Maybe they're buying it up now to buoy up the company and to also get a good bargain basement deal. Or maybe some big shot Republicans are buying it up for the same reason they buy Coulter's books in bulk buys.

[gavodotcom]

12. Check out the trade volumes.

You'll see both huge (like a 100,000 share) and a cluster of ~30-50,000 trades.

I think it's pretty obvious they're buying on margin.

Depending on how shitty this 'news broadcast' is, you could very well see the margin call happening on Monday or Tuesday.

[chimpy the poopthrower]

16. You sound like you know what you're talking about.

Want to explain the process in a little more detail for everyone? Including me. :)

[gavodotcom]

17. Buying on margin is basically a loan from your broker so you can buy stock

you then pay your broker back what you borrowed plus interest. throwing around big bucks, expecially more than you can afford, can help get the market going in the direction you want it to go. i saw reports of high volume trades going for above the current market price, which would indicate to me that they're artificially trying to raise the price. You'd have to be crazy or an owner to try to hold onto this stock through the election. Could be ripe for short selling. Hopefully there will be a huge selloff late.

Anyway, if your fucked up and your stock falls, your broker can demand a market call, meaning you have to pay him out of your wallet, since your stock tanked. If the price isn't being bouyed by short sellers, and is in fact being inflated by margin buys, then those with those margins are toast.

All I really know is, $7.25 for a $7.50 stock in heavy debt and policy decisions which can alienate half of its customers is highly overvalued.

-or- this could be a pump and dump, which is fraud. i don't know if sinclair's announcement is deceptive, we'll have to find out to see what their 'news program' is all about. if it is a heavy partisan slam, expect a backlash. If they knew it was partisan, they're opening themselves up to fraud indictments.

[chimpy the poopthrower]

19. What about the opposite scenario?

What if Sinclair execs drove the stock down on purpose with their stolen honor decision so that they could buy a lot of it low?

[gavodotcom]

20. same thing, still fraud,

after you dump, your price goes down, then you just buy it back up. shorters will sell you whatever you want until they get 0 profit.

(by the way, the selloff's beginning)

[VegasWolf]

31. If they sold there own stocks short they would be taking a risk that

public approval would keep the stock price neutral or
actually increase it. These repubs must know awol is
in deep trouble to risk this kind of money.

New Information Shows Bush Indecisive, Paranoid, Delusional

[jdj]

27. re posts 11 and 12

is there anything illegal about them doing this?

[Reciprocity]

13. Good point!!!

7.16 0.90 / 14.38%

[kerry-is-my-prez]

21. Any insider purchases or sales are publicly listed.

It's not too hard to find.

[Diana52]

25. Insider Trading??

Three top Sinclair executives are accused of insider trading and suit has been threatened to sue the company if its board of directors does not take legal action itself, against the executives.

San Diego based attorney and powerful shareholder, William Lerach, (also a Dem fund raiser) says the accusations were not politically motivated and were spurred by requests from shareholder clients, including the pension fund for 1199 SEIU Greater New York, a health care workers union, to investigate Sinclair's recent stock declines.

"We are equal opportunity suers," he said. Lerach has accused Sinclair vice-president Frederick G. Smith and J. Duncan Smith, and board member Robert E. Smith of selling thousands of shares of Sinclair in late 2003 and early 2004, just before shares began to fall. He said the accusations were based on studying publicly available documents of stock sales. "We have discovered that senior executives and a director of Sinclair appear to have taken advantage of their inside knowledge of the company's business and prospects to sell over $18.5 million worth of Sinclair stock," Lerach said in a letter to the board.

The company's statement did not address Lerach's accusations and a company rep was not immediately available for comment.

Meanwhile, a group called Media Matters for America said it was underwriting costs for a Sinclair shareholder, the investment firm Glickenhaus & Co., to demand the broadcaster provide an opportunity for a response to the "Stolen Honor" show. Glickenhaus holds about 6,100 Sinclair shares according to Media Matters.

--Reuters 10-20-04 09:46 a.m. EDT

[prayin4rain]

14. Red Herrings abound.

[yardwork]

22. Welcome to DU - please elaborate?

It's true that Red Herrings abound - we've uncovered some right here at DU.

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

23. They are investigating some of the Sinclair Execs for insider trading.

I don't think it's related to the documentary. If there are any members of management and/or family members buying or selling stock in this time period they'd better watch their steps becuase it could appear to be insider trading.

[symbolman]

24. This isn't over..

PLEASE Get my flash attack ad out to as many people as possible - it stresses the fact that THEY Would not allow the Nightline program to HONOR the fallen troops -- THIS IS AS IMPORTANT as spamming advertisers..

THIS is what will piss off even freepers.. Regular Americans will be livid if they know Sinclair WON'T support the troops, and DIDN'T BEFORE!

All the links are clickable easy to use and helpful, the more people that get it the more damage we can do to those bastards!

Turn up your speakers and get the word out with MEDIA as well..

Don't forget to WRITE to the Advertisers that have folded and THANK THEM -- when we did our Limbaugh Boycott we found that that is what helps them feel like they did the right thing..

Here's "Our Media is Broken"

http://web.takebackthemedia.com/geeklog/public_html/staticpages/index.php?page=20041013042650709



Skinner was kind enough to post this flash on the main page but it sort of got chopped due to the debates and DU having to rig for heavy traffic..

[Swamp Rat]

30. Kick ass symbolman!

[Digit]

28. I want it COMPLETELY stopped...no compromises eom

[Carolab]

29. Call the station in St. Paul

[phone] to complain that they are showing it tonight