Hi Here's the response I got from Reuters on the ACAS numbers:
--- My Data team has reviewed your query and they have provided the following explanation: The difference in the EPS figures is due to the difference in the EPS metrics taken by Reuters and that taken by MSN. Reuters has taken Net Operating Income Per share as EPS, while MSN seems to have taken Net Earnings Per Share .The difference between the two is that Net Earnings Per Share has included a)Net Realised Gain (loss) on investment b)Net Unrealised appreciation (depreciation) of investments. Another reason is that MSN has taken into consideration the basic EPS figure whereas Reuters have taken into account the diluted EPS figure. Another thing to note here is that MSN number is the company's reported figures , while Reuters figure is Actuals comparable EPS figure based on broker consensus. --- In this case, that's the difference between operating and reported earnings. Operating earning attempt to smooth out the eps number by only including numbers that are relevant to the core operations of the company. TTM EPS is the sum of the last 4 quarters earnings, in our case, that's operating earnings, for most others, it's reported earnings. There is no right or wrong here, there are different ways of looking at earnings, income and balance statements, you have to understand what the numbers represent. Best regards, Gary Lyben ----- Original Message ----- From: investor0329 To: [email protected] Sent: Saturday, February 24, 2007 4:40 AM Subject: [quotes-plus] what is the TTM EPS for ticker ACAS? TTM EPS is twelve month trailing earnings per share According to QP data it is $3.11 According to Yahoo, it is $6.55 Which is it? If QP is right, than ACAS is paying more in dividends than it earned. If Yahoo is right, then ACAS is doing great. Chat board at Yahoo says ACAS is doing great because of the low dividend payout ratio which is dividends payed divided by TTM EPS. Am I reading the above numbers correctly? TTM EPS has a specific definition, does it not?..no room for different definitions, right?
