首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
(1)Too often, investors focus on figures that supposedly offer insight into a company’s performance without shedding light on ho
(1)Too often, investors focus on figures that supposedly offer insight into a company’s performance without shedding light on ho
admin
2021-08-05
54
问题
(1)Too often, investors focus on figures that supposedly offer insight into a company’s performance without shedding light on how it actually makes its money.
(2)Graphic-design and printing-services company VistaPrint is a case in point. Investors have pushed the shares down over the past month because the company’s most recent quarterly results raised concerns about slowing revenue growth and narrowing gross margins.
(3)But on that score, investors may be worrying about the wrong issue: VistaPrint appears to generate a big portion of its operating profit from fees it receives for "referring" customers to outside parties that "offer" rewards programs.
(4)That calls into question whether the stock, even after its recent fall, deserves to trade at 20 times expected earnings for the fiscal year ending in June 2009, according to estimates from Thomson Reuters.
(5)VistaPrint’s customers often don’t realize that they are purchasing the referred services. The services are offered through a screen that pops up at the end of the VistaPrint buying process. That screen purports to offer the customer $10 off their most recent purchase. But customers who sign up for this are actually enrolling in a program that charges them $14.95 a month for what are supposed to be discounts on amusement parks and movies, among other things.
(6)In a statement, VistaPrint said, "We don’t ’trick’ our customers into a service that they don’t want. Customers are smarter than that. We go to great lengths to ensure that only those customers that want that particular service or offering pay for that service or offering."
(7)The company declined to say what portion of operating profit comes from referral fees, adding that it doesn’t give product-by-product breakdowns.
(8)In regulatory filings, VistaPrint acknowledges the risk associated with referral fees. The company said some of the programs that pay it referral fees "have been the subject of consumer complaints and litigation alleging that their enrollment and billing practices violate various consumer protection laws or are otherwise deceptive."
(9)A careful read of the fine print in VistaPrint’s financial filings shows that referral fees are an important driver of profit.
(10)In the fiscal quarter ended March 31, VistaPrint said 6.7% of its $106 million in revenue came from referral fees. Such disclosures about referral fees came only after prodding last year from the Securities and Exchange Commission.
(11)But the SEC didn’t force VistaPrint to disclose how this revenue affected operating profit. To figure that out, one has to read lower in the footnote, which says that referral-fee revenues "have minimal corresponding direct cost of revenue."
(12)In other words, they are pretty much pure profit. But assuming, say, that the company racked up an 80% margin on these revenues, me fees would have accounted for about half of operating profit in me most recent quarter.
(13)The contribution, though, could be even higher, given VistaPrint’s own description of me costs tied to mem as "minimal". Analysts note mat referral revenue is declining as an overall slice of me business. But it still makes up a big piece of profit.
(14)Until that changes, investors should remember mat VistaPrint prints business cards—not money.
The author’s attitude towards the referral fees that VistaPrint receives is _____.
选项
A、positive
B、neutral
C、negative
D、unknown
答案
C
解析
文章一开始就提到,数字并不能告诉人们企业到底是怎么把钱挣到手的,然后以VistaPrint为例,说明这个问题;其后作者在对referral fees的描述中,引用了带有负面意义的词;最后一段更是讲到,在referral fees的情况有所改变之前,投资者都应谨慎对待VistaPrint的业绩。由此可知,作者对referral fees的态度是负面的,故选C。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/jHIK777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
Culturesaredifferentbecausethelocationstheyexistinaredifferent.Somepeoplelivinginthedesert,aregoingtolived
Culturaltendenciesimpactthewaychildrenparticipateineducation.Therearedifferentexpectationsabout"normal"schoolb
Thehealth-careeconomyisrepletewithunusualandevenuniqueeconomicrelationships.Oneoftheleastunderstanding【S1】______
Miserymaylovecompany,butthiswasridiculous.MorethanamillionIBMstockholderslastweektookanightmarerideonasto
(1)FrankhaddrivenhismotherintoWahinetobuyMeggie’sdoll,andhewasstillwonderingwhathadpromptedhertodoit.She
(1)Afteralongdayattheoffice,manyofusfindourselvestakingoutourstressonfriends,children,orsignificantothers.
(1)Someoneelsehadsaidthat;"Likemustmarrylikeorthere’llbenohappiness."Whowasit?Itseemedamillionyearssinc
(1)Oneoftheobviousproblemswithpredictingthefutureeffectsofclimatechangeisthattheyhaven’thappened.Thismakesc
CulturalDifferencesbetweenEastandWestI.FactorsleadingtotheculturaldifferencesA.Differentculture【T1】______【T1】_
随机试题
更换防烟排烟系统组件需要准备产品安装使用说明书。()
Althoughwestillhavesomeproblemstoface,byandlargeourworkhasbeensuccessful.
甲氧苄啶与磺胺甲唑合用的原因是
单位或者个人认购或者受让证券公司的股权后,其持股比例达到证券公司注册资本的(),应当事先告知证券公司。
用人单位在进行经济性裁员时,在()内录用人员的,应当优先录用被裁减的人员。
下列关于储备存货的有关成本的说法中,不正确的是()。
【2014年四川.单选】以“应当怎样"和“不应当怎样"的表述来规范教师的言行,保证教育行为的正常进行,体现了教师职业道德的()。
罗马在应用科学尤其是农艺学方面取得了较高的成就,其中《论农业》是研究罗马帝国初期奴隶制经济不可多得的历史文献,《论农业》的作者是()。
某项工程需在室外进行线缆铺设,但由于连续大雨造成承建方一直无法施工,开工日期比计划晚了2周(合同约定持续1周以内的天气异常不属于反常天气),给承建方造成一定的经济损失。承建方若寻求补偿,应当______。
Thespaceshuttle【D1】______madeararenightlandingattheKennedySpaceCentreearlyonThursday.Thenightlanding,theelev
最新回复
(
0
)