It’s Funny How Companies See Clearly Without GAAP in Their Eyes
The future is bright when you choose the light.
Gotta wear shades.
Photographer: Richard Rodriguez/Getty Images
More and more companies say they can see the future, but only through their rainbow-tinted kaleidoscopes.
For instance, Newell Brands Inc., maker of a household goods such as Sharpie markers and Rubbermaid containers, forecasts that a key measure of its income, which the company calls “normalized earnings per share,” could rise slightly to as much as $2.85 this year from $2.75 in 2017. Newell’s actual earnings, as defined by Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, or GAAP, will almost certainly plunge. Sales of its Graco strollers have been hit by the Toys “R” Us bankruptcy, a key distribution outlet, and the company is divesting some of its other brands.