The St. Joe Co.?s stock plunged Thursday for a second straight day after a well-known short seller announced he is betting against the stock.
David Einhorn, president of hedge fund Greenlight Capital Inc., told an investor conference in New York Wednesday that he is shorting St. Joe?s stock because he thinks the company?s land holdings are overvalued, and it will have to write off a large portion of its investments in the properties.
According to a Wall Street Journal story, Einhorn said Wednesday that St. Joe?s stock is worth $7 to $10 a share, compared with its recent trading price in the $20s.
?The best properties have been sold, many lots were sold to speculators during the boom and when the boom ended, business essentially stopped,? Einhorn said, according to Bloomberg News.
?Many developments are ghost towns and little value remains,? he said.
Most of Jacksonville-based St. Joe?s land holdings are in the Florida Panhandle but one community Einhorn spotlighted was St. Joe?s RiverTown development in St. Johns County, where development has stopped because of the housing market crash. He called RiverTown a ?moonscape,? Bloomberg reported.
Replies
48
SWGB
Now's the time to buy!
SoWal Insider
Now's the time to buy!
.....they're not making any more moonscapes.
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Beach Fanatic
For the stock to drop 20% because one guy is shorting it, doesn't mean much about the real company. Fear pushes the market and speed traders are reported to make up something like 80% of the trades on Wall St, which is more scary than anything than JOE holds. Computer programs buying and selling, in and out within seconds, just to make a decimal on millions, surely must not do much good for anyone.
Beach Lover
I am not surprised.
Beach LoverAuthor
For a complete copy of the presentation, see the following link.
http://seekingalpha.com/article/229944-greenlight-capital-s-david-einhorn-makes-the-short-case-for-st-joe-s
http://seekingalpha.com/article/229944-greenlight-capital-s-david-einhorn-makes-the-short-case-for-st-joe-s
Beach Lover
murray it dropped because einhorn is the guy who sniffed out the problems and lehman and carries big weight.also st joe really makes little money now and there whole worth is there 580k acres of land.
SoWal Insider
For the stock to drop 20% because one guy is shorting it, doesn't mean much about the real company. Fear pushes the market and speed traders are reported to make up something like 80% of the trades on Wall St, which is more scary than anything than JOE holds. Computer programs buying and selling, in and out within seconds, just to make a decimal on millions, surely must not do much good for anyone.
There was more to the drop in JOE than program buying and selling.
Einhorn made an honest, fact-filled presentation that backed up his thesis on why JOE's stock price is way overvalued. Simply put, JOE is pulling numbers out its ass and putting them on their balance sheet to make the company appear valuable in order to string along its gullible creditors and shareholders.
In his 139-slide presentation, Einhorn proved that Emperor JOE is stark arse naked.
SWGB
Jeez SHELLY, shouldn't you be doing your web classes by now, there are BAR exams right around the corner.
SoWal Insider
Jeez SHELLY, shouldn't you be doing your web classes by now, there are BAR exams right around the corner.
The bar around the corner is open till 2:30am--I've got plenty of time.
/
Beach Lover
shelley stay out of the stk mkt. with your negativity i'll bet 100-1 you've shorted this whole 16% 7 week rally.i bet you were shorting apple at $200 and cat at $50.i bet you star at stk quotes daily asking" why do stocks keep rising if the economy is so bad"
SWGB
I seriously doubt SHELLY has more than a fantasy stock market account. If he does then I'm sure the creditors will be seizing it soon.
SoWal Insider
Now is the time for St. Joe to buy back as much as their stock as possible and consider quietly restructuring.
Beach LoverAuthor
A significant portion of what remains consist of virtual swamp land. Have you been to the airport? Not only is Joe competing with the Airport Authority for users (on land which Joe donated to the AA), but Joe is also leasing back some of the same land they donated. I can't see any reason why anyone would develop commercial uses around the airport.
Hotel? Why? Simply not enough traffic and why would you stay at the airport? Distribution companies? Why locate here? Ingress and egress is poor and you are too far away from major roads or a port. There would be no reason to haul goods into and out of the airport area.
Read the report. It is very detailed and well researched.
Hotel? Why? Simply not enough traffic and why would you stay at the airport? Distribution companies? Why locate here? Ingress and egress is poor and you are too far away from major roads or a port. There would be no reason to haul goods into and out of the airport area.
Read the report. It is very detailed and well researched.
Beach Fanatic
Again, fear rules the market. In this world, all it takes is one or two news articles to send everyone running to buy or sell. The truth is that much money will be made by those who shorted JOE, when negative info comes out. I'm not here to counter the article's worthiness, but just to say that it isn't surprising to see trade based on one person's opinion, regardless of his or her credibility.
SWGB
A significant portion of what remains consist of virtual swamp land. Have you been to the airport? Not only is Joe competing with the Airport Authority for users (on land which Joe donated to the AA), but Joe is also leasing back some of the same land they donated. I can't see any reason why anyone would develop commercial uses around the airport.
Hotel? Why? Simply not enough traffic and why would you stay at the airport? Distribution companies? Why locate here? Ingress and egress is poor and you are too far away from major roads or a port. There would be no reason to haul goods into and out of the airport area.
Read the report. It is very detailed and well researched.
If you distribute to South America the new airport is a great spot and much cheaper than other international airports further south.
Other than JOE I know of a large medical company in Dallas that is considering a move. Don't ask I'm not revealing a name.
Beach Fanatic
Now is the time for St. Joe to buy back as much as their stock as possible and consider quietly restructuring.
That would be a great idea. I own another company stock that did that same thing. Everyone kept shorting it keeping it down in the twenties while the company repurchased. Last I looked it finally settled around 60 or so.
Beach Fanatic
I can't see any reason why anyone would develop commercial uses around the airport.
The planes?
SWGB
Apartments for deaf people.
Beach LoverAuthor
The plunge continues with JOE being down by another 10% over the last three trading days.
SoWal Insider
It's at 17.95 this morning. What are their earnings reports revealing ....and, how much cash do they have?
SoWal Insider
It's at 17.95 this morning. What are their earnings reports revealing ....and, how much cash do they have?
The "earnings" reports are revealing YTD 2010, they've lost $33.2M ($0.36 per share). 196.4M in cash and cash equivalents.
I'll let ROBERTSONDAVIES fill you in on the other details.
.
Edited
Beach Fanatic
I suggested shorting JOE in 2005 to people on this board, as an alternative to selling their south walton home. I choose to sell my south walton home, as it was a 2nd home.
A few days ago, near the market peak, with Joe trading between 19 and 20 a share all day, a wide range, I suggested that you should buy JOE and put it away for 50 years. Since that time, the market has gone down 8 straight days in a row, and Joe has gone from the 19 range, to the 17 range. YAWN.
RE: Einhorn, yes he's smart, but he was also browbeating people in 2004 who nailed the short thesis on Subprime Mortgage lenders. Do you want to guess what he thought? He thought people like Accredited Home Lenders and New Century had bulletproof business models, and chastised young analysts in my office who had done some work and presented a thesis that there may be a problem developing. So from my experience, Einhorn is an arrogant often way wrong little douche bag... feel free to short now, he'l probably be buying to cover whatever you borrow to sell.
A few days ago, near the market peak, with Joe trading between 19 and 20 a share all day, a wide range, I suggested that you should buy JOE and put it away for 50 years. Since that time, the market has gone down 8 straight days in a row, and Joe has gone from the 19 range, to the 17 range. YAWN.
RE: Einhorn, yes he's smart, but he was also browbeating people in 2004 who nailed the short thesis on Subprime Mortgage lenders. Do you want to guess what he thought? He thought people like Accredited Home Lenders and New Century had bulletproof business models, and chastised young analysts in my office who had done some work and presented a thesis that there may be a problem developing. So from my experience, Einhorn is an arrogant often way wrong little douche bag... feel free to short now, he'l probably be buying to cover whatever you borrow to sell.
Beach LoverAuthor
Dow Jones is up 5.5% year-to-date while Joe is down 39.6% year to date.
SoWal Insider
Dow Jones is up 5.5% year-to-date while Joe is down 39.6% year to date.
....and CROX is up 180% YTD...is this a crazy world or what?
The question is: Will CROX stock price beat JOE's before years's end? Currently CROX is $16.20; JOE is $17.90.
With Einhorn and his buddies playing with JOE like a yo-yo it's entirely possible. He said the stock is worth $7-$10, so he' still has room to play.
Beach Fanatic
Dow Jones is up 5.5% year-to-date while Joe is down 39.6% year to date.
ummmm.... I suggested JOE a few days ago. In that time frame, it is down like 7% while the DOW is down 5%. negligible difference, and what I'd expect from a heaviy shorted stock. JOE is to be bought here, not sold.
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