Microsoft got *more profitable* in the last quarter?

Post #1,688 by addison 7/13/01 11:20:29 AM Reply	Microsoft got more profitable in the last quarter? UPDATE: I think I understand the timing of the announcement. Microsoft also announced yesterday that its quarterly revenues will be, as usual, stronger than what it had been feeding to all those compliant analysts on Wall Street. Why is this important? Here is a company that has a monopoly, which it has abused for years. And here, in the middle of the worst high-tech slowdown in anyone's memory, Microsoft gets more and more profitable. Of course, the company wants investors to know about this, to move up the stock price. And given the market's reaction today, Wall Street was properly impressed. But as it heads back into court, and as it tries to manipulate the court of public opinion, Microsoft surely doesn't want too much public attention on its vast power -- financial and otherwise. The company wants to keep pretending, against all logic, that it's an underdog. I hadn't even thought of that. So they're not a monopoly, but they're MORE profitable as their customers go out of business? [link\|http://web.siliconvalley.com/content/sv/opinion/dgillmor/weblog/\|[link\|http://web.siliconvalley.com/content/sv/opinion/dgillmor/weblog/\|http://web.siliconv...lmor/weblog/]] (This will change, it was posted on 7/13/01)
Post #1,691 by Another Scott 7/13/01 11:30:33 AM Reply	A Foolish perspective. From The Motley Fool, dated July 12: [link\|http://www.fool.com/news/foolplate/2001/foolplate010712.htm\|Microsoft Warns, Extends Olive Branch] Microsoft's good news/bad news warning Microsoft also gave a preview of its second-quarter earnings last night, and the news was mixed. Judging by how the stock market is reacting to the news -- its shares were up nearly 7% at this writing -- clearly investors are keying on the good news instead of the bad. The good news is that fiscal fourth-quarter (second calendar quarter) revenues are expected to be in the range of $6.5 billion to $6.6 billion, up from previous guidance of $6.3 billion to $6.5 billion. This is also up about 12% from last year's quarter, when Microsoft brought in $5.8 billion. That's the good news. The bad news is that Microsoft has not escaped damage from the dot-com and telecom meltdown. The company will take a whopping $2.6 billion charge to write down the value of some of its investments, including, among others, its stakes in AT&T (NYSE: T), Winstar Communications, USInternetworking (Nasdaq: USIX), and Gilat Satellite Networks (Nasdaq: GILTF). The write-downs will reduce Microsoft's earnings per share to roughly a penny for the quarter. Though the greater-than-expected revenue is certainly something to cheer about, Microsoft's investment losses are nothing to ignore, especially since investment gains have positively figured into Microsoft's earnings in the past. Just because the company is getting rid of the carnage in one swoop instead of over time should not belittle the fact that the company did, in fact, destroy shareholder value by making some questionable investments. Why Wall Street habitually glosses over and forgives one-time charges is beyond me. I think it's yet another indication of how MS can cook its books. The accounting rules really should be tightened to prevent abuses like MS seems to continually do... Cheers, Scott.
Post #2,020 by wharris2 7/17/01 3:31:07 AM Reply	How How How I'm babbling like an idiot I know. HOW IN HELL can Microsoft cook its books, nay, simmer them in a fine sauce, to demonstrate a gain when there are several bad things. (a) Internet meltdown - what was it, 2 billion out the window? (b) continued losses of MSN (c) weak sakes of Win2K in any version WAAHHHHAAAAT???????? French Zombies are zapping me with lasers!

Welcome to IWETHEY!