Expeditors International's 'Show, Don't Tell' Policy

Herb Greenberg notes that Expeditors International of Washington (EXPD) has taken corporate reticence to new heights. The company doesn’t hold earnings conference calls (good!) or participate in sell-side-sponsored investor conferences (double good!). And most notably, it regularly files what might be described as “dumb-question” 8-Ks:

In one filing, a writer thanked the company for indulging "an open-ended, broad question." Expeditors responded that "this was not an open-ended, broad question. It was an interrogation that left us exhausted just by reading it. We did not 'indulge' your question; we endured it." A few 8-Ks later someone who claimed to have been a securities analyst for 44 years, complained about the response: "If I had been one of the inquirers and read your wise-ass response to me, I would be quite offended. Contemplate cleaning up the inappropriate stand-up comedy act: it ain't funny."

The company shot back: "Truth is that we have never set out to be like the many thousands of other companies out there... If you don't like what we have written, and certainly some do not, then don't bother to read it. If you are really worked up, please stop thinking about investing in our stock." [Emph. added]

Let’s just say this isn’t how they teach it in I.R. school. If Expeditor’s here’s–a-thumb-in-your-eye approach has caused any problems for the company, by the way, they aren’t apparent. Its shares have more than doubled over the past four years.