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Technology Stocks : Cisco Systems, Inc. (CSCO) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RetiredNow who wrote (57038)	2/4/2002 11:54:34 PM
From: Stock Farmer	Respond to of 77397

Whatever it's called, I read that quote as a warning that we might expect to see a charge to earnings in future periods. "As a result, subsequent to fiscal 2001, we may recognize in earnings declines in fair value of our publicly traded equity investments below the cost basis that are considered to be other-than-temporary". In plain English of the un-enron variety that us non-accountants like to read: "in future periods, we might include charges to earnings because the stuff we bought isn't likely to ever be worth what we paid for it" I think that in the context of a discussion on companies doing things that no bank would do, rather appropriate. When a sizeable fraction of a company's business is that of an investment bank, and a moneylosing one at that, it would not be out of the ordinary to have the market value them more like a mediocre investment bank instead of a world-class technology company. Accounting profits and Economic profits are two different things. One is fiction, the other we can spend. As the brown, smelly, sticky bits of this reality are flung from the Enron fan, seems like a lot of eyes are opening. After which we'll see a lot of eyebrows raised! IMHO