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Pastimes : The Naked Truth - Big Kahuna a Myth -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: bill meehan who wrote (33610)	4/14/1999 6:57:00 PM
From: accountclosed	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 86076

Bill, I've read his posts...he's got it <g>

To: bill meehan who wrote (33610)	4/14/1999 7:01:00 PM
From: accountclosed	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 86076

I have Fleck covered now...not "thecall" but "vcall" The event runs from 8:00 am. to 8:00 p.m. EDT and is accessible to the public free of charge at vcall.com. V-Call.com, the preeiminent provider of corporate conference calls via the Internet is hosting the event, with interviews being conducted by V-Call's RadioWallStreet service. biz.yahoo.com vcall.com

To: bill meehan who wrote (33610)	4/14/1999 7:26:00 PM
From: John Pitera	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 86076

I think Luc rerouted it to Austin, and he has been using it ....heavily -vbg-

To: bill meehan who wrote (33610)	4/14/1999 7:30:00 PM
From: Death Sphincter	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 86076

Houston?? yeah, great...it just figures. i lend out the Bong back in October and you guys pass it around like it is a novelty item. Don't you realize that is THE Sacred Glue Bong? In the 80's I was working on the floor of the NYSE. I found that sucker lying on the floor on Oct 13th, 1987. I held it up and asked "Anybody know where this came from?" There was about 2 seconds of total silence, furtive glances around the exchange, then they all turned their backs and i recall mumblings of "i dunna know" "never seen it before" "what the hell is it" "never touch the stuff" "must be Dave's" "DAVE?? Dave's not here".........and know it is in the hands of some wino? great, hope he doesn't think its a urinal, i wanted to use that later for the run to 11k. sTinKy

To: bill meehan who wrote (33610)	4/14/1999 7:33:00 PM
From: Dr. Jeff	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 86076

Bill, what do you make of this nonsense? FIRST CALL, BASED IN BOSTON, said it will publish a so-called cash-flow earnings per share, or cash EPS, which First Call defines as a company's earnings before merger-related costs for goodwill, the premium paid for acquired assets. First Call currently provides estimates for regular earnings per share, which represents a company's net income including goodwill and other charges. In most cases, a company's cash EPS will be higher than regular EPS. Certain companies, particularly Internet start-ups without any quarterly earnings to report, already are giving more prominence in their financial reports to cash EPS. The push for cash EPS also is motivated by some major merger-related accounting-rule changes that are due out shortly; such changes are likely to increase goodwill charges at many of the Internet companies, and Wall Street is nervous about the resulting impact on those stocks. ANTIDOTE FOR RULE CHANGES Robert Willens, a managing director at Lehman Brothers Inc., said analysts and chief financial officers are worried that if the accounting-rule changes take effect as expected by Jan. 1, 2001, “the market will have to deal with a more depressed reported-earnings number, thus lower stock prices.” In an effort to calm the waters, Mr. Willens said, “Everyone is now beating the drum to get the market focused on cash EPS,” which excludes these charges. First Call, whose consensus of analysts' earnings estimates is widely watched by Wall Street and individual investors, will initially provide cash EPS for such companies as Yahoo! Inc., Avid Technology Inc. and MindSpring Enterprises Inc. Eventually, First Call may broaden the list beyond the initial 20, depending on the Street's appetite for cash EPS, said Chuck Hill, First Call's research director. But the growing enthusiasm for cash EPS isn't unanimous on Wall Street. No accounting rules exist to govern the proper calculation of cash flow, and disparate cash-flow results have sprouted willy-nilly. Most companies, for instance, define cash EPS as earnings before such costs as interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, while First Call uses a different definition. As a result, some analysts believe the cash EPS figure is unreliable and often confusing. A CASH EPS EXAMPLE As an example of how cash EPS can make a company's results look rosier, First Call estimates MindSpring, an Internet company in Atlanta, posted a 93 cent loss in regular EPS for fiscal 1999; MindSpring's cash EPS for that same period came to a 94-cent profit. <Picture> First Call's estimates are “in line with what we expected the numbers to be,” said Michael McQuary, MindSpring's president and chief operating officer. He noted the company's regular EPS is being hurt by goodwill charges from two acquisitions that took place during the last year or so. The proposed accounting-rule changes, due out in June from the Financial Accounting Standards Board, are expected to restrict a popular all-stock merger method called pooling of interests. The change is expected to create more goodwill charges. In addition, the FASB wants to kill an immediate merger write-off used by acquisitive Internet companies, among others, for the value of as-yet-developed products picked up in an acquisition; the elimination of the write-off will create even more goodwill charges. First Call is 52% owned by Thomson Corp., Toronto, and 48% by nine brokerage firms. Copyright © 1999 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.