The Wall Street Journal once reported quarterly earnings for the technology company Acer Inc. and the oil

Question:

The Wall Street Journal once reported quarterly earnings for the technology company Acer Inc. and the oil company Royal Dutch Shell. In the opening paragraph of the Acer article, it stated that there was a “41 percent jump in first-quarter profits, thanks in part to the sale of shares held in other companies.” Shell’s strong profits were “boosted by gains from proceeds of sales in the company’s of equity investments.”

REQUIRED:
a. From the preceding quotes can you tell whether the securities were classified as available-for-sale or trading? Why?
b. Why would a financial statement reader want to separate profits from investment sales from other profits?
c. What earnings concept would an analyst be examining by separating different kinds of earnings?

Portfolio
A portfolio is a grouping of financial assets such as stocks, bonds, commodities, currencies and cash equivalents, as well as their fund counterparts, including mutual, exchange-traded and closed funds. A portfolio can also consist of non-publicly...