Dear Lisa,
In response to your post I had a few comments. First the inappropriate person on the call was a broker, not an analyst. His typical method is to try to kill the conference call by assaulting management. He does this on an intermittent basis. A short, and not very cleverly disguised.
p.s.: Anyone of substance handles these issues by talking with management directly. If you hear these type of comments on a call, rest assured there is an agenda, usually a short agenda.
Second in response to your statement:
"Had management not accounted for the rail and mass transit operating loss in "discontinued operations," operating earnings would have been (.14) on a diluted basis."
This is incorrect. When a company spins of, or lists for sale, a division, they take any and every write off they can associated with those discontinued operations. Because of this accounting treatment, it is difficult if not impossible to determine what the actual number for the quarter would have been. It is safe to say that it would not have been $.05, but it is also just as safe to say that it was not ($.14). |
