Nortel Files 10-K

As it promised, Nortel filed its 10-K
by the end of the April with the SEC. But no one gets to see the actual
numbers until early Monday morning. This leaves analysts – and the
media – with just a couple of hours to pore through the document before
an 8 a.m. conference call. Not that I'm an expert in investor relations
but this whole “file late Friday night but you can't get the numbers
for another 60 or so hours” seems unorthodox. Given the accounting
scandal, you know Nortel wants to dot the “I's” and cross the “T's”
before it releases any financial information. But it also has to
balance its internal needs with the expectations of the investment
community. There were assumptions the financial results would be
available some time during the last week of April. Nortel only
disappointed people who don't need any more ammunitiion to dismiss how
it operates. That said, Nortel management has the right to do things
the way it wants – even if does piss people people off. From my
perspective, the company's behaviour is puzzling but far from
maddening. Nortel's got far more pressing and troubling strategic
challenges than making sure it gets financial results out on time.