Apple's Stumble: Much More Than Investment-Income Worries

Several of us were knocking around the investment-income numbers reported by Intel (INTC Quote) and Microsoft (MSFT Quote) on RealMoney.com's Columnist Conversation a little earlier this afternoon.

Herb Greenberg and I have had it out on this before: He thinks investment income confuses investors by masking poor operating results, and is very suspicious of it. I think that's certainly a risk, but that in general, investors are smarter than that. I also wonder what companies should do with excess cash, rather than investing it -- and doing it as well as Intel does -- to buy friends, buy loyalty, buy an early look at new technologies ... and also, by the way, make a bucketful of money.

No point going through that here again. You can read our exchange on RealMoney.com's archives. I also want to be clear that I have a world of respect for Herb (and Adam Lashinsky, who lines up with him on this one), and understand their worries. I just think the danger is overstated. ...