Jing et al,
With all the talk over the number of subs, I've been wondering about what the numbers really were on 3/31. In some companies it's more important to manage revenue and earnings growth, or at least how those numbers are reported -- in ATHM's case, it's important to manage the sub growth, and I suspect they have much more latitude in doing so. I say that because while the FASB and SEC has definite ideas about what are appropriate techniques for revenue recognition, I'm assuming that the same sort of guidelines and rules do not apply for subs. Can the cable gurus out there help me out here?
So...if ATHM had 500,000 subs on 3/31, for instance (and I find it interesting that they beat the 450,000 number by a mere 10,000, even though Jermoluk has indicated awhile back that it was in the bag), might they have reported only 460,000 and kept 40,000 to apply to the next quarter, if needed?
Whether or not ATHM is lowballing their sub numbers, I'm heartened by the backlog of demand in the SF Bay Area. It sounds like if they needed additional subs, all they would have to do is spend more to create/contract out a larger field installation team.
Looking to add to my position if the weakness continues... |
