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Politics : Ask Michael Burke -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Skeeter Bug who wrote (86904)	12/14/2000 10:09:38 PM
From: Knighty Tin	Respond to of 132070

Skeets, about the same pe ratio as a cement stock.

To: Skeeter Bug who wrote (86904)	12/15/2000 2:24:06 PM
From: benwood	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 132070

Skeets, as I recall, the last quarter for MSFT showed just 3% rise in profits from sales, and the rest was from their investment windfalls. What I'm thinking will happen to them, and a lot of other companies next year: Sales slow == drop in earnings Payouts to their own retirement == drop in earnings Loss of the "profit" from the investment of the retirement pool == drop in earnings Investment income drops, or disappears == drop in earnings All those nifty accounting things to pump up the earnings will now work in reverse. Also, for Microsoft and Intel and a few others, didn't the put option scam end about a year ago? That income will be lost as well. Too bad they stopped that before the stock tanked -- what luck! Of course, it was one of the things propping it up, too.