To: Dealer who wrote (46631 ) 1/17/2002 7:15:53 PM From: Sully- Read Replies (5) | Respond to 19:03 ET Microsoft (MSFT) 69.86 +1.99: -- Update -- The Final Answer? We hope so. With its many charges/gains and differing analysts' treatment of same, the MSFT report and guidance has been a statistical morass. Here's the bottom line: Microsoft beat revenue and EPS estimates for the Dec qtr. It guided higher for the Mar qtr, but this is misleading as many analysts had assumed a Jun qtr closing of the EXPE sale (which analysts are including...stay with us) whereas MSFT is assuming a Mar qtr closing, so it's important to focus on the Mar/Jun qtrs combined to get the true picture. For those qtrs combined, MSFT guided to EPS of $0.93-0.96 vs the Multex consensus of $0.97 and revenues of $14.9-15.2 bln vs the consensus of $15.2 bln. The company also guided its PC shipment forecast lower to a mid-single digit decline from a previous expectation of a modest increase. So MSFT beat in Dec, but guided lower for Mar/Jun, and the stock traded down to $67.20 as a result.
