A few weeks ago Morningstar investment research firm listed Forest City Enterprises
(FCE-A, parent
to Atlantic Yards pusher Forest City Ratner) as one of five
stocks it deemed "worthless," with a "fair value of zero."
Apprently Cleveland-based FCE did not take too kindly to that and is now fighting
back by claiming Morningstar's reasoning was flawed and wrong, and its conclusion
baseless.
A Cleveland Plain Dealer blog entry discusses the fight back:
Forest
City fights back
Firm rebuts negative stock assessment
-- Michelle Jarboe, Plain Dealer
Forest City Enterprises Inc. on Wednesday strongly
disagreed with a recent Morningstar Inc. article, saying the
author's opinion that Forest City's stock is
worthless was based on flawed assumptions and inaccurate
interpretations of the company's debt obligations and
its construction costs.
"We disagree in the strongest possible terms with
Morningstar's opinion," spokesman Jeff Linton
wrote in a statement. "Further, we are astonished and
appalled that Morningstar would issue such an opinion
without having made contact with Forest City."
Linton said no Morningstar representative has contacted or spoken to any
senior-level executive at Forest City in two years. In a recent article, Morningstar
analyst Matthew Coffina named Forest City among five stocks that he considered
to have a fair value of zero. Five analysts who regularly cover Forest City
have taken a neutral stance on the stock or expect it to perform slightly
better than the market...
"We are astonished and appalled" that Forest City Enterprises' child
company Forest City Ratner would propose to build the largest single-source development
in New York City's history and the densest residential development in the United
States without making any contact with the community it would displace or the
political leaders that represent that community, or the broader Brooklyn community.
FCE does have a point or two:
When evaluating situations it is always important to converse with the stakeholders.
Okay.
It's too bad it's child company Forest City Ratner didn't do that when it decided
to level a section of Prospect Heights so that a "billionaire
using public funds, [could] construct a private playground for the rich and powerful,"
and hasn't done it any time over the past five years.
"Flawed assumptions and inaccurate interpretations" are deplorable according
to FCE. Okay.
It's too bad FCE's child company Forest City Ratner has spent five years pushing
"flawed assumptions and inaccurate interpretations" in relation to its
Atlantic Yards proposal—blight,
construction timelines,
revenue
generation just to name a few.
Since we done expect any trickle down self-evaluation from FCE or FCR, we look forward to Morningstar's response.
(As for the five analysts who regularly cover FCE, NoLandGrab
retorts: Wonder what rating these analysts had on FCE stock 18 months ago,
when it was trading above $70.)
