Great Quarter, Guys!

Well, I was wrong.

Overstock reported, and they missed the Street’s operating income number by 50%, coming in at a $6 million loss versus the Street’s $4 million-plus forecast.

In true Patrick Byrne fashion, of course, Overstock masked the bad news by including a one-time $4 million gain in the reported number—making no mention of the gain in the press release discussion of income items, as far as I can see. Rather than include the $4 million one-time gain in the headlines or the introductory paragraph, it is buried at the bottom of Patrick’s list of “mud-pies and cream-pies,” which never seem to go stale at Overstock.

They just keep baking more.

The CEO’s letter is, of course, full of the usual technology-heavy nonsense Byrne likes to employ when he wants to keep attention away from the business itself, which is slowing and losing money.

But if you read carefully you will see that “Project Propeller” has twirled away and the rest of the fanciful dreams and yearnings of the CEO can be summed up in the rather pathetic note that the Teradata implementation was so quick, “I believe we have been invited to speak at a conference on just this theme.” Well, Patrick, you’re certainly not being invited to speak at a conference on how to run a great company.

Jeff Matthews I Am Not Making This Up

The content contained in this blog represents the opinions of Mr. Matthews. Mr. Matthews also acts as an advisor and clients advised by Mr. Matthews may hold either long or short positions in securities of various companies discussed in the blog based upon Mr. Matthews’ recommendations.