Overstock Holiday Sales Up But Below Forecasts

[mandy]

Overstock.com®  president Patrick Byrne appeared on Bloomberg Television on Friday December 23, 2005. During that appearance, Byrne said that fourth quarter growth had slowed to two times the industry average rather than the three to four times that the company had posted in the past. Byrne confirmed that Overstock.com's revenue growth for 2005 would fall within his desired range of 60-100% growth, but stated that earnings would be a percentage or two less than his target of breakeven net income, which he defines as +/- 1% of revenue. Byrne also said that Overstock.com would be breakeven to positive on an EBITDA basis for the fourth quarter, but that it would have negative operating cash flows for 2005 due to build in inventory balances.

"We've had a nice holiday season, just not as nice a season as we've had in the past or as I'd hoped for," said Byrne. "We have become the go-to shop for smart, savvy shoppers interested in high quality products at discount prices, and I made the determination that this holiday season would be critical for solidifying our brand in our customers' eyes. To get above the noise, we spent a few dollars more than we had hoped, but in my experience, over time, those dollars will pay large dividends. So I decided to do what is smart for the company in the long run, rather than focus on just the quarter's results -- because I plan to be around next season as well, and to be bigger than ever."

"Incidentally, during the interview, the Bloomberg reporter asked me about our lawsuit against Rocker and Gradient," said Byrne. "As part of my response, I mentioned the SEC's investigation of Gradient (see http://www.shareholder.com/overstock/dow...dacted.pdf) for a copy of the SEC letters which I had previously provided to Bloomberg. Curiously, at that moment, Bloomberg cut away from the interview without warning to a commercial and returned midstream to the interview only when I had finished discussing the SEC's investigation of Gradient."

Overstock.com will announce its fourth quarter results in late January or early February.

full press release: http://www.shareholder.com/overstock/Rel...eID=182571

[amy]

"Incidentally, during the interview, the Bloomberg reporter asked me about our lawsuit against Rocker and Gradient," said Byrne...Curiously, at that moment, Bloomberg cut away

The Bloomberg reporter is probably out to get you just like everyone else on Wall St.  It must be a conspiracy!  : 

[xppman]

My "After Holidays" sales are UP.
At the website.

[bargainbloodhound]

[quote author=amy link=topic=1930.msg6787#msg6787 date=1135822010]

"Incidentally, during the interview, the Bloomberg reporter asked me about our lawsuit against Rocker and Gradient," said Byrne...Curiously, at that moment, Bloomberg cut away

The Bloomberg reporter is probably out to get you just like everyone else on Wall St.  It must be a conspiracy!  : 
[/quote]

That 3rd paragraph should never have been allowed to appear in an earnings warning press release.  It would be nice if someone at the company would tell him 'Patrick, shutup, going off on tangents about your 'enemies' in the middle of press releases and news conferences hurts the company's image.'

[regic]

bargainbloodhound and Amy weren't the only ones who had problems with this press release and TV interview 

Overstock shares fade as CEO warns of 'drugs or dead body' caper

Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne continues to break new ground as the head of a publicly traded company. In a single TV interview last week, he shocked investors by revealing that holiday sales were far below expectations, perplexed the financial crowd by talking about drugs and dead bodies being found in his trunk and initiated a verbal war with billionaire blogger Mark Cuban.

full article: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/12/29/...stock_dip/

related topic: The bizarre world of Patrick Byrne's Overstock http://community.tuliptools.com/index.ph...560.0.html

[Jen]

I love this quote from Cuban:

"in a perfect world, if I want a company to fail, I wouldn’t go to the SEC, or to the DOJ. (Neither of which I have ever done, nor do I plan to) I would just try to get them to hire Patrick Byrne."

[bargainbloodhound]

[quote author=Jen link=topic=1930.msg6812#msg6812 date=1135882667]
I love this quote from Cuban:

"in a perfect world, if I want a company to fail, I wouldn’t go to the SEC, or to the DOJ. (Neither of which I have ever done, nor do I plan to) I would just try to get them to hire Patrick Byrne."

[/quote]

I think Cuban is probably right.  I used to like Byrne as a CEO because his speeches to analysts weren't full of the usual 'marketing speak' BS (like Meg's or that Bill Cobb letter this week), but his mouth has become a liability.  When he would answer analysts questions with a truthful "I don't know, there's no way to predict that" it was a good thing, but  talking about drugs and dead bodies to Wall St reporters isn't a good thing.

[dimucci]

Patrick 

[rossellini]

[quote author=dimucci link=topic=1930.msg6838#msg6838 date=1135915821]
Patrick 
[/quote]

Please do.