AAPL Drops 3% in Afternoon Trading, Deferred Revenue Accounting Earning Attention

by , 2:15 PM EDT, July 18th, 2008

Shares in Apple Inc. have taken a 3.27% hit in trading Friday, down US$5.62 per share as of this writing. Shares are trading at $166.19, having bounced off a low of $165.50 per share during late morning trading. Even while traders were selling the stock lower, Apple's deferred revenue accounting practices were catching the attention of mainstream financial outlet, Dow Jones.

The company will be reporting its fiscal third quarter results Monday, July 21st, and speculation on the company's results and guidance have been all over the board. In recent days, American Technology Research analyst Shaw Wu predicted strong results for the company, while BMO Capital's Keith Bachman issued a research note to clients advising them to expect conservative guidance.

On the blogging side of things, one blogger is telling the world why he is shorting the stock ahead of the company's earnings report.

Be that as it may, Dow Jones has published a detailed report on why and how Apple's deferred revenue accounting practice of accounting for iPhone and Apple TV revenue over a two year period will represent a "huge and continuing revenue payoff for Apple that plays out on its top and bottom lines for years to come."

This, according to the report, will be good for the stock once Wall Street and general investors figure out how it works. With Apple selling millions of iPhones and Apple TVs, that deferred revenue is stacking up fast. According to the report, Apple could see it add $1 per share in earnings starting in calendar 2009.

Stay tuned to The Mac Observer for full coverage Apple's financial results on Monday, July 21st.

*In the interest of full disclosure, the author holds a small share in AAPL stock that was not an influence in the creation of this article.  

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