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srowen

04/02/10 4:16 AM

#212456 RE: pagosa #212452

Yah but it's "gross profit", which doesn't quite mean what we think of intuitively when we talk about "profit" in normal conversation. Basically it's sales, minus the actual cost of stuff sold. It doesn't count paying salaries, office rent, etc.

Don't see it here but they're probably taking some inventory writeoffs too, which makes selling stuff look more profitable since they stuff was considered less valuable.

"Operating profit" is a good number to watch. It expresses what happened in the business, before effects related to how they finance the business. This is usually what people call EBIT.

Cash flow statement can also be handy in situations like this to understand what's really happening at a short-term micro level.

I applaud anyone who's looking at the numbers and asking what's really going on.