Quote from vhehn:
i think dell has a trick going on. if they want to pump the quarter results they run a promo like this. they sell a bunch of computers but give out $200 rebates that wont be cashed in until next quarter. they get revenue this quarter and transfer expenses to next quarter. they may even have a way to hide the rebates so they dont hurt the bottom line.
Overall that shouldn't be meaningfull, as sometime during the year they'd need to account for the rebates. However, I believe all these rebates are about painting the "top line"... "Sales" $1000 and "Promotions" $-200, looks better to those looking for "growth in the business" than Sales $800 [net]. "Top Line Revenue Growth/Stability" is highly prized... even when it's phony accounting tricks.
ELL - news) is likely to show at least 35 percent sales growth as well as a jump in earnings when it reports on its quarter Thursday, as it sold more personal computers than any competitor and broke into the printer market.