Stuff and Nonsense

Mac vs. PC vs. Gold

If you don't look at AAPL's books using GAAP, and account for iPhone sales in the quarter in which they are sold, AAPL's P/E is around 5. FIVE. If you want to base your investments on P/E - which I think is oversimplistic - then you should at least try and make certain that you're counting every firms' earnings in the same fashion.

To do otherwise is indicative of either cluelessness or dishonesty. You shouldn't claim to be an analyst if you can't figure out that different accounting procedures necessitate different interpretations of the numbers.