Investors may be punch drunk from the licking they’ve absorbed from corporations with bad actors over the past three years, but there is some heartening news from the trenches.

The vanquished victims of the market are not taking it lying down, which may be better than any bureaucratic reforms in corporate governance.

Like wounded bears, these cranky victims of Nortel, Bombardier, Enron, WorldCom et al are fighting back. And they are hitting back where it hurts – in the share price.

The message from shareholders to those in the corner offices should be clear enough: Clean up your pigsty or we’re cashing in. Corporate hanky-panky will always remain a favourite pastime, but perhaps this vigilance will rein in some of the scoundrels – well, at least until the next bull market breeds another epidemic of delirious, amnesiac investors.

Unfortunately, many of the good corporate citizens who make up the majority are also being tarred by the same brush, which is what bear markets are about.

In a bull market, corporations are innocent until proven guilty. But in this bear market, they’re guilty as sin until proven innocent.

It doesn’t take much to rattle investors these days. Just a minor or perceived misstep by a corporation – in accounting, executive shuffling, investor relations, pending lawsuits or any other issue of credibility – and the share price gets smoked.

The take-no-prisoners attitude is underscored by the merciless beating that numerous out-of-favour stocks have been taking in recent months.

Even before Air Canada (AC-TSX) filed for bankruptcy protection, the shares took a nosedive from $8 last May to $3 (now in the $1 range) as CEO Robert Milton’s credibility sunk to new depths with many calling for his head.

Vigilante justice has even appeared of late in Alberta’s oilpatch, which until recently seemed virtually immune to corporate bungling. Shareholders have been shooting first and asking questions later on a handful of companies.

When Gauntlet Energy (GAU-TSX) and NQL Drilling Tools (NQL.A-TSX) exposed their warts recently, shareholders showed all the calm of long-haired rabbits in a prairie fire, dumping the shares en masse.

The disgruntled punters have also been dumping a truckload of tech companies such as one-time high flyers Axia NetMedia (AXX-TSX) and Cell-Loc (CLQ-TSX), both based in Calgary.

They put the boots to Axia over its wrangling with Bell West over the Alberta SuperNet contract. Axia stock is off 75 per cent from its 12-month high.

And they’ve sacked one-time tech darling Cell-Loc (CLQ-TSX), which has plummeted 75 per cent in the 10 months since Sheldon Reid assumed the CEO reins from Michel Fattouche.

Even some of the darlings of the gold bull market have had their credibility tarnished.

Gabriel Resources (GBU-TSX) recently swooned 20 per cent in one day when four senior officers resigned. And now one of the hottest gold plays in Canada, Nevsun Resources (NSU-TSX), is under fire from investors after announcing the murder of a geologist in Eritrea, – four days after the company knew about it and five days after it occurred.

Nevsun stock was up over 600 per cent in a one-year span before it fell 17 per cent on news that the body of British geologist Timothy Nutt was found in a ditch with his throat slashed near the Sudan border in what was believed to be a terrorist attack.

Eritrea’s foreign ministry said an Islamic group funded by the Sudanese government was responsible and that the killing was designed to discourage foreign investors.

Reuters news agency scooped Nevsun, breaking the news at 11:30 a.m. MST on April 17, precipitating the selloff. After the TSX halted the stock, Nevsun finally put out a release at 1:37 MST.

As tragic as the story is, it may not have a significant impact on Nevsun’s exploration, particularly considering the Vancouver company’s core operations are in Mali.

But, from the point of view of angry shareholders who demand that corporations earn their trust, Nevsun has already shot itself in the foot.

* HOLD THE PHONE: Canaccord Capital has given Telus (T-TSX) a ringing endorsement, rating the stock a double or triple from its recent price of $18.49.

“Our targets one year from now, two years from now and three years hence are, respectively, $23, $31 and $37,” Canaccord wrote in a note to clients. “By the end of 2006, we could see the shares in the $40 to $45 range.”

* SAGE WORDS: “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”

– Mahatma Gandhi



HOT ALBERTA STOCK: NQL DRILLING TOOLS
NQL.A-TSX $3.40 Up 80 cents (+30.8%) on 692,300 shares (for week ending April 17).
Investors with cast-iron guts were cheering wildly as NQL staged a massive triple-bagger rally in a matter of days. The stock had crashed 75 per cent the previous week on news the Nisku-based oil service company was in violation of its debt covenants and working on restructuring its debt. The shares are still 30 per cent off the price when the news hit.



COLD ALBERTA STOCK: ZI CORP.
ZIC-TSX $2.55 Down 35 cents (-12.1%) on 48,900 shares (for week ending April 17).
Zi took a minor hit on a good-news, bad-news release of quarterly and 2002 financials. The Calgary software provider showed a 145-per-cent increase in 2002 revenue to $13.2 million, but had a net loss of $40.4 million ($1.07 per share), including $9.1 million in losses for discontinued operations.