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How To Avoid Jinxing A Conference Call Dont Show Up

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by Felix Salmon
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Dec 21 2007 12:00am EDT

How to Avoid Jinxing a Conference Call: Don't Show Up!

Did Jimmy Cayne learn a lesson from Al Lord's disastrous earnings call on Wednesday? Lord was largely responsible for a 20% fall in his company's share price after he was overly aggressive with analysts. Yesterday, Cayne, who's not exactly noted for his soft-spoken subtlety, decided to skip his own conference call entirely. Given that Bear Stearns had never previously lost money in its 84-year history, one wonders what kind of news, exactly, would suffice to drag the bank's CEO to his telephone. One suspects it might involve golf.

In any case, the tactic seems to have worked: the much-larger-than-expected loss notwithstanding, BSC actually closed yesterday at $91.42 per share, up from Wednesday's close of $90.60. Maybe investors actually like an absent Cayne.

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