Most financial analysts predicted that sales of the new product of

Question

Most financial analysts predicted that sales of the new product of Kellner, Inc. would be a total failure and revenues from its sales would not be sufficient to cover expenditures on the product’s development. However, even initial sales of the product were sufficient not only to cover development costs but also to bring in some profits for Kellner, Inc.
Which of the following, if true, would best help to explain the contradiction above?

(A) Some changes to the new product were made just before it was released into sale.
(B) In order to prevent information leakage, Kellner had not provided financial analysts with some product information necessary for accurate prediction.
(C) At the time the financial analysts made their prediction, the product was not yet completely developed.
(D) The product was certified by the most famous and trustworthy chemical laboratories.
(E) Kellner has a long-time reputation for producing products of high quality.

Source: OptimusPrep

warriorguy · Answer

So for me - it boiled down to B and C. But wording in B worked for me since it states that piece of info necessary to make accurate information was not provided to the FA and hence they were incorrect in their prediction.

Anyone up for discussion?

Stn · Answer

I see one problem with B and will explain, please correct me if this logic is wrong.

The prediction says that " sales would not be sufficient to cover expenditures on the product’s development ". 
But in reality it turned out that " even initial sales of the product were sufficient not only to cover development costs but also to bring in some profits for Kellner, Inc. "

Here we have a significant difference between what the prediction said and what the reality was. 
When I solved this questions I was thinking that the difference between prediction and reality is that big that it can not be because of accuracy. I see accuracy like a fine tuning rather than a totally different result. I mean, if you don't have accuracy the prediction will be wrong but still somehow around reality, not that far away as in this example. Thus, I eliminated answer B.

nvijayprasanna · Answer

For me it was between B and C.

B says, FA was not provided with product detail and this resulted in incorrect prediction. So if this is true, will explain why there is a contradiction. SO LET KEEP THIS.

Now C says, FA was not provided with complete product. But there is no assumption that FA need complete product to do prediction. Outside world it might b true, but in this context, C doesnt say reason for the contradict.

ankujgupta · Answer

I considered A as answer as it mentions that some changes were made in the product, so the earlier product which analysts analysed was not the same as released.
I thought B should not be a choice here as we are trying to hurt a premise.

sayantanc2k · Answer

Both A and B could explain the discrepancy. The underlying reason for the discrepancy between the prediction and the result could be explained by the fact that the prediction was based on a different product than that finally released.

Option A directly states that the prediction was based on a different product than that finally released. (assuming that the prediction was made before the final changes, and the analysts were not aware that there would be changes just before the release.)

Option B may imply that the analysts had based their prediction on a product that was not identical to that finally released (some information about the product was hidden from the analysts). Thus option B could as well be a valid answer.

However since option A requires some additional assumption, option B is better than A.

VerbalBot · Answer

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Most financial analysts predicted that sales of the new product of

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