Last week, after I pointed out Taser International's (NASDAQ:TASR) unseemly habit of pulling the old Jedi mind trick, CEO Rick Smith wrote to challenge me to a light saber duel. I have a feeling there will be another offer to duel coming by this afternoon, because Taser's trying to pull the old switcheroo again today.
Today, the Taser PR department was busy issuing a press release about a sale of $390,000 worth of X-26 stun guns and other related gear to law-enforcement agencies in the U.K. Is this the kind of deal that deserves its own press release? After all, the total of that order comes to a mere 0.5% of last year's $67 million in revenues.
On the other hand, the folks in charge of Taser's Securities and Exchange Commission compliance filed for an extension of their first-quarter 10-Q. The company says it needs time to correct an error in previous calculations regarding future tax benefits for the exercise of stock options. By itself, this doesn't look like a huge deal. I happen to think it's a pretty small deal -- except, perhaps as a stinging reminder of the hefty options-based shareholder dilution that the firm has inflicted upon shareholders.
But the combination of the two sets off all my BS sensors at once. I've said it before, and I'll say it again -- it gives me no great thrill to have to be the rain cloud all the time. Taser stock is a newsletter pick of Fool co-founder David Gardner. And Rick Smith and the rest of the folks in Taser's management have been forthright, friendly, funny, and thoroughly likable in all our exchanges.
But despite all of that, I still don't trust management to do right for outside investors. Not when every bit of bad news -- even bad news that's barely bad -- is preempted by some other form of positive spin. Not when that kind of PR management helped insiders get out at last year's highs right before the hammer fell hard on Joe Oddlot. Not when... well, you get the picture. It all adds up to more bad news on top of an already-rocky sales picture.
Could I be wrong on this? Sure, but I'm not willing to put my money on the line to find out. And I suggest that other investors weigh the question carefully for themselves before they do.
For related Foolishness:
- Avoid the market's Siths.
- Taser pulls the Jedi mind trick after Q1 earnings.
- Taser zapped investors with this news earlier in the month.
- See Stinger shoot itself.
- Check out Stinger's scary CEO.
- What's the deal with my so-called journalism?
- Taser has started cleaning up its mess.
- Think you're getting the next Taser? Read this, this, and this before you bet the farm.
- Taser's got issues of its own, including some recent unwanted buzz.
Seth Jayson is just telling it like it is, even though Taser is a Motley Fool Rule Breakers pick. At the time of publication, Seth had no positions in any company mentioned. View his stock holdings and Fool profile here. Fool rules are here.
