Originally Posted by
pbarnette
Are you under the impression that any sizable number of people invest off of the headlines in press releases?
Quick question: if DL's specials are simply to fudge the numbers to their benefit, why did they call their MTM gains in Q3-13 a special item? And were you decrying them doing so at that time? It isn't fudging the numbers if you are consistent in your treatment.
GAAP isn't perfect and teasing out special items can play an important role in helping investors compare performance of the core business over time.
Who cares about the lazy? Certainly not UAL or DAL, as they are overwhelmingly owned by institutions.
"GAAP isn't perfect" is a way to say it isn't my preferred criteria, so I'll pick whatever items that make myself look good and have a footnote table to reconcile them for the sake of compliance.
If u bother to read DL's earnings across multiple quarters you'll realize how many specials they include every single quarter. A special should be an unforeseen event that materially impacts your performance, not a place to hide managerial screw ups. Only in the airline industry where 75% of "profits" will vanish quarter over quarter over quarter in the name of specials.