Yellow Pages (Y-TO) Earnings discrepancy from different sources

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Spudd
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Yellow Pages (Y-TO) Earnings discrepancy from different sources

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The Yellow Pages (Y-TO) popped up on my stock screener this morning, and I started looking into it (without much hope). However, I found the earnings for December 2016 to be a huge mystery. Wondering if anyone has any thoughts.

According to both TD and Thomson-Reuters, the earnings in December were 0.56/share (positive). However, according to TMXMoney.com and SEDAR, the earnings were -16.28/share (holy moly). I mean, SEDAR seems like it should be the final authority, but in the past I have generally trusted TD and Thomson-Reuters for earnings information. I only pulled up the other sources because I was so blown away that Y was actually making money.

Any thoughts on how these can be SO different?
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DavidR
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Re: Yellow Pages (Y-TO) Earnings discrepancy from different sources

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Yellow's earnings release says
For the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2016, the Company recorded basic loss per share of $16.35. Basic earnings per share before the impairment charge, net of income taxes, for the quarter ended December 31, 2016 were $0.26
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Re: Yellow Pages (Y-TO) Earnings discrepancy from different sources

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Interesting, now there's a third number in the mix. :)

So it seems that at least somewhat, it's driven by different definitions of EPS - TD/Thomson it seems are not including the impairment charge (although why they say 56 instead of 26 is still an open question).

My main concern is whether I can trust TD's earnings reports, and I think the answer is a firm "maybe, but it's best to always double check it with SEDAR".
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Re: Yellow Pages (Y-TO) Earnings discrepancy from different sources

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I only trust what the company itself says in its earnings release/quarterly reports. Why go anywhere else?
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Spudd
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Re: Yellow Pages (Y-TO) Earnings discrepancy from different sources

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AltaRed wrote:I only trust what the company itself says in its earnings release/quarterly reports. Why go anywhere else?
Pure laziness! It's a pain going to SEDAR and wading through reports when you can just look at a cute graph right inside your broker's interface. But I suppose I will have to fight laziness from here out, having discovered its shortfalls.
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Re: Yellow Pages (Y-TO) Earnings discrepancy from different sources

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AltaRed wrote:I only trust what the company itself says in its earnings release/quarterly reports. Why go anywhere else?
Only trust the IFRS number (or GAAP in the US), not the basic earnings before all the things we didn't like. Trust, but verify!

A public company that my spouse previously worked for has reported "one-time" restructuring charges every quarter since at least 2000. 68+ consecutive quarters of "one-time" charges. Oxymoron anyone?

No less than Warren Buffett has railed against these "pro-forma" earnings. From his 2002 Shareholder Letter,
Warren Buffett wrote:I have another caveat to mention about last year’s results. If you’ve been a reader of financial reports in recent years, you’ve seen a flood of “pro-forma” earnings statements – tabulations in which managers invariably show “earnings” far in excess of those allowed by their auditors. In these presentations, the CEO tells his owners “don’t count this, don’t count that – just count what makes earnings
fat.” Often, a forget-all-this-bad-stuff message is delivered year after year without management so much as blushing.

We’ve yet to see a pro-forma presentation disclosing that audited earnings were somewhat high. So let’s make a little history: Last year, on a pro-forma basis, Berkshire had lower earnings than those we actually reported.
:lol: :lol: Trust Buffett to find a way to hold these "pro-forma" numbers (i.e. make believe numbers) up and make fun of them. I'll leave it as an exercise for the reader to figure out why Berkshire Hathway's pro-forma earnings number in 2002 would have been lower.
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AltaRed
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Re: Yellow Pages (Y-TO) Earnings discrepancy from different sources

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Off-topic, but worthwhile to remind folks, the games companies can and do play

I particularly detest intangibles like 'goodwill' on the balance sheet. It can stay there forever under IFRS rules.
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