Reference no: EM132438887

Question - According to a Financial Post article in October, 2014, Canadian Biotech's management started to disclose new information to investors. When analysts asked why, the company's outside (nonexecutive) director Ms. Clark replied that, "Our shares are currently undervalued." The new disclosures include items such as sales and earnings forecasts. The article reports that these forecasts are optimistic in light of the company's past profit performance. However, management of the company believes that they are attainable if everyone remains focused and committed to corporate strategies. These new disclosures followed a sharp drop in the firm's share price after the release of its 2014 second quarter's earnings report, which revealed flat earnings growth compared to the same quarter one year ago. The article also reports that Canadian companies are currently not required to disclose sales and earnings forecasts under the securities and exchange regulations.

(a) What are the potential costs and benefits to Canadian Biotech of making voluntary disclosure of its sales and earnings forecasts to investors? Discuss.

(b) Suppose, OSC (Ontario Securities Commission) a regulatory body, is currently considering enacting a piece of regulation to provide companies protection from legal liability stemming from the issuance of a forecast, provided that meaningful cautionary statements accompany the forecast. Discuss how the new rule that OSC is considering implementing might improve the working of securities markets.