All Sorts of Bad Things Happening to Timminco

Analysts are hitting the sell button on Timminco as they are discovering that portfolio manager Ravi Sood may well have been right when he said last year that it was his view that the company’s solar technology was “virtually worthless” (see prior post “Some advice for Ravi Sood” June 3-08).

According to the Globe & Mail Thursday morning, all manner of horrible things are happening to Timminco’s production line. Customers are unhappy with the quality, input costs have increased by five times, and an attempt to fix some of these challenges “backfired” according to Timminco (TIMNF.PK) Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Heinz Schimmelbusch.

So, when Mr. Sood explained why he had gone short on Timminco, the stock was at $34. It closed at $1.67 on Wednesday. Since it appears that he was right all along, let’s hope Mr. Sood has ridden the position out and been rewarded for his courage.

It is also the perfect time for Mr. Sood’s libel lawyers to bring a motion to dismiss Timminco’s defamation lawsuit, now that it is clear the other side can’t win…just as we always suspected (see prior post “Timminco v. Sood” August 15-08). For good measure, attach the various equity research analyst reports that are raising concerns about the commercial utility of Timminco’s technology. What’s Timminco going to say in their defence?

That it’s a Bay Street conspiracy?