Beancounters, Part 693:
"Shares of online auctioneer eBay dropped Monday in heavy trade as Smith Barney cut its rating to "sell," citing concerns about growth in the company's automotive business".
You'd think that the last five years would have gotten rid of the Street's pathological focus on the short-term, and replace it with a more rational view of the future expected cash flows from a firm's strategy. Or, you could agree with me, and think that the Street is fundamentally built the wrong way, and focused on the short-term purely out of self-interest - in order to generate fat commisions on essentially meaningless noise like this.
Are concerns about near-term growth in the auto segment of eBay's business really a valid reason to slash it's rating? I think that's a pretty tough case to make - if you're rating the fundamental soundness of eBay's business.