Remember -- Apple's Quarter Is Short a Week

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- What's a week between friends? Possibly a good deal, at least in the initial stage of public reaction to Apple's (AAPL) second-quarter earnings, due to be reported Tuesday.

The quarter will be light a week -- after the extra week in Apple's first quarter. Experienced traders and analysts obviously bake any legitimate calendar shift into their assumptions. But the media, for its sad part, barely tells you it's coming. This often causes a needless bout of confusion after the earnings, as traders look at comparisons and grow alarmed. How could trends be slowing? Well, they're not. A week was just swapped from here to there.

In "Apple's Worst Nightmare," Motley Fool previews Apple's earnings and touches upon the possible slowing of revenue growth long-term from its torrid pace, but mentions nothing about the week. Their article deals with larger factors, but a missing week will only heighten concern. It should be mentioned. Seeking Alpha's "Buy Apple Before Tuesday's Earnings" also makes no mention of the week.

In "Look to Buy Apple, Sell Sirius This Week: Opinion," TheStreet points out that Apple preannounced great iPad sales, but doesn't mention the disappearing week.

Seeking Alpha's "Apple Earnings Preview: Don't Expect The Moon" did the job. The second item they called to your attention was: "this quarter was 13 weeks long, the last one was 14. You might not think that is a big deal, but Apple averaged $3.3 billion in revenues per week last week. Take a week off, and you are talking about a decrease in revenues."

When it comes to calendar shifts, be like the Girl Scout's and not the media: prepared.

At the time of publication, Fuchs had no positions in any of the stocks mentioned in this column.

Marek Fuchs was a stockbroker for Shearson Lehman Brothers and a money manager before becoming a journalist who wrote The New York Times' "County Lines" column for six years. He also did back-up beat coverage of The New York Knicks for the paper's Sports section for two seasons and covered other professional and collegiate sports. He has contributed frequently to many of the Times' other sections, including National, Metro, Escapes, Style, Real Estate, Arts & Leisure, Travel, Money & Business, Circuits and the Op-Ed Page.

For his "Business Press Maven" column on how business and finance are covered by the media, Fuchs was named best business journalist critic in the nation by the Talking Biz website at The University of North Carolina School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Fuchs is a frequent speaker on the business media, in venues ranging from National Public Radio to the annual conference of the Society of American Business Editors and Writers.

Fuchs appreciates your feedback; click here to send him an email.