
The accounts for the third fiscal quarter of 2025, when finally deciphered from the labyrinthine bureaucracy of filings, revealed a figure of $2.91 earned per share, a stark reversal from the previous year’s loss of $9.39. It was as if the company, long accustomed to the taste of ashes, had suddenly stumbled upon a hidden orchard. Revenues had swelled, a generous 58% increase to $277.9 million, a bounty that felt both welcome and, to the seasoned observer, faintly unsettling – such sudden prosperity rarely arrived without a hidden cost. Bryant Riley, co-CEO, spoke of a “strong quarter” in investment banking, advisory, and research, but the truth, as it always is, lay in the shadows between the pronouncements.