It's not uncommon for a company's management to lie. Enron, Worldcom, Nortel, Bre-X, Timminco, Puda - just to name a few. For every well known case, there are probably hundreds of smaller ones. My favourite is when they use the term "to enhance shareholder value" - whenever I see that I run for the hills (although much of the damage is done by that time).

And it's not just management - brokers, stock promoters, and just about anyone in the business trying to convince you to part with your money lies frequently, or at least withholds a key truth. I make it a point to avoid reading pr stuff, and just go with the charts. It doesn't work all the time, but it works often enough for me. After all, charts do not lie.