Reporting operating earnings vs. reported earnings

Fred Voetsch writes on Seeking Alpha that some media outlets, such as CNBC and Bloomberg News, are reporting operating earnings when reported earnings is a more accurate number.

Votesch writes, “CNBC has taken it upon themselves (though they certainly are not alone in this) to report operating earnings instead of reported earnings. Reported earnings are what has been used in the past and are what you would be comparing to if you wanted to perform any historical research and yet CNBC didn’t even bother to mention that they were using operating earnings.

“Bloomberg takes this same approach, reporting the P/E ratio of the S&P 500 as 14 or 15 when in fact it is well over 100.”

Later, he concludes, “In my opinion, CNBC and Bloomberg are shilling the market and the consequences have been, and will be, devastating as the stock market finds a way to return to a reasonable value regardless of what Bloomberg and CNBC can convince the public of. By the way, none of this could happen without the public accepting it. But I also blame you if you don’t do the research that any investor should be doing. In the past decade and over the coming years, you, if you are one of those accepting such obviously bad data, have and will get burned again and again and each time it happens I suggest you look in the mirror when you are looking for someone to blame.”

Read more here.