If You Write Off A Lot Of Stuff; Remove A Lot Of One-Time Charges, You Too Can Show A Profit -- May 3, 2016

Halliburton beats estimate. Reuters is reporting:

Halliburton Co, the world's No.2 oilfield services provider, reported a higher-than-expected adjusted profit for the first quarter as deep cost cuts helped cushion the impact of a drop in drilling and completion activity.

Net loss attributable to Halliburton widened to $2.41 billion (1.64 billion pound), or $2.81 per share, in the three months ended March 31, from $643 million, or 76 cents per share, a year earlier.

The bigger loss was due to $2.77 billion in charges for asset impairment and other reasons amid the prolonged slump in oil prices.

Excluding these charges, Halliburton earned 7 cents per share, higher than analysts average estimate of 4 cents.

By "removing" all the things my wife and I bought over the past year that we did not need, and removing all the one-time charges associated with sushi dinners -- each of which were a one-time charge, we, too, kept in budget. In fact, we are ahead of where we expected to be at this time.

Our bank sees things a bit differently. Unfortunately.

Not dead yet. NY Times loss narrows as revenue tops estimate. MarketWatch is reporting:

The company reported a net loss of $8.27 million, or 5 cents a share, in the first quarter, after a loss of $14.3 million, or 9 cents a share, in the year-earlier period.

Adjusted per-share earnings came to 10 cents, ahead of the FactSet consensus of 8 cents. Revenue fell 1.2% to $379.5 million from $384.2 million.

The FactSet consensus was for revenue of $378 million. The newspaper company said it added 67,000 net digital-only subscribers to its new products, the most for a quarter in more than three years.

There are times I consider on-line subscriptions to The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and The Boston Globe but then I regain my sanity.