During the 20 years since he discovered the anomaly, Mr. Markowski has conducted ongoing research on the economic and market conditions for which the anomaly surfaces.  Companies tend to become Perfect Shorts during a secular bear market for two reasons:

  • Have weak cash flow business models which were subsidized during a bull market.
  • More difficult to raise capital during a bear market.
  • Accounting gimmickry is overlooked by investors and analysts at the top of a Secular Bull

The table below lists Mr. Markowski’s media verifiable perfect shorts for which Wall Street analysts had buy recommendations. 

 

Media Verified Perfect Shorts 2002-2012

Company Year of Impact Result Publication
Adelphi Communications 2002 Bankruptcy Forbes.com
The Fleming Companies 2003 Bankruptcy Forbes.com
MCSI 2003 Bankruptcy The OPS Newsletter
Astropower 2003 Bankruptcy The OPS Newsletter
Cray 2004 42% decline SmartMoney.com
Emerge Interactive 2007 Bankruptcy SmartMoney.com
Friedman’s 2008 Bankruptcy WallStreetJournal.com
Lehman Brothers 2008 Bankruptcy Equities Magazine
Bear Stearns* 2008 92% decline Equities Magazine
Merrill Lynch* 2008 63% decline Equities Magazine
Morgan Stanley* 2008 80% decline Equities Magazine
Goldman Sachs* 2008 67% decline Equities Magazine
Nortel Networks 2009 Bankruptcy SmartMoney.com
Sun Power 2012 92% decline Equities Magazine
Titan Machinery 2016 70% decline equities.com
Conn’s 2016 91% decline equities.com

*rescued from 2008 crash