Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

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

To: Earlie who wrote (43986)	1/20/1999 1:54:00 AM
From: Tim McCormick	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 132070

Hey Earlie and all, I was kinda intrigued by MSFT's PR person claiming today that MSFT's earnings are subject to seasonality. And then predicting a sequential decline for the current quarter. MSFT CFO Maffei then gave guidance of .64 for this quarter. I never remember MSFT being this seasonal, and I suspect they are aware of the channel issues. So I ran the numbers for sequential changes from the Dec. quarter to the Mar. quarter going back to 1994. All numbers are based on fully diluted, split adjusted, no WebTV or Softimage-operating only. 12/94 to 3/95 showed a sequential increase of 7%. 12/95 to 3/96 showed a sequential decrease of 4%. 12/96 to 3/97 showed a sequential increase of 42%. 12/97 to 3/98 showed a sequential increase of 16%. Current guidance is for a sequential decrease of 12%. The avg. sequential earnings increase for these two quarters for the last four years is 15%. Now we are looking at a 12% decline? I bring this up not as a criticism of MSFT, but as a view into the PC market. Tim