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Technology Stocks : How high will Microsoft fly? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Exacctnt who wrote (59751)	7/12/2001 3:44:25 PM
From: Charles Tutt	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 74651

I do think it is inappropriate to base growth comparisons on figures including investment income, especially if you're unwilling to do it consistently when there are losses. I don't think one should take the stance that "earnings is earnings" when investment income is positive, but try to brush it aside when it's a loss. I'm not implying that it's hidden in OE; I'm sorry you inferred that from what I've said. But MSFT has tucked it into the earnings numbers they've made the focus of their press releases, as I just demonstrated a few posts ago. JMHO. Charles Tutt (TM)

To: Exacctnt who wrote (59751)	7/12/2001 4:11:40 PM
From: Dave	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 74651

Exacctnt, you have misunderstood. I may not have been clear enough. If not, I apologize for the confusion. You and Dave have implied that MSFT is hiding investment income and losses in Operating Earnings. No. I did not say that. I said, "Microsoft has lumped its investment gains in with its operating earnings." I meant that they had added them together when computing the net income, thereby exaggerating their earnings, not that they had included investment income in their operating earnings. Many other companies report their investment income as one-time gains. This seems to be make more sense, especially because you certainly don't want to apply a high P/E to a company's investment gains, which as MSFT has demonstrated can evaporate much more quickly than operating earnings. Dave