Britain has just about been able to get away with its windfall tax on bonuses on the basis that it was a one-time item.
In the previous quarter, this one-time item significantly bolstered the earnings of a number of banks.
The 14-cent charge is a normal part of doing business and should not be considered a one-time item, Mr. Frail said.
Excluding the one-time item, Zale earned $87 million, or $2.52 a share, slightly better than the $2.46 a share expected by analysts surveyed by First Call/Thomson Financial.
Xerox said Friday that a litigation charge left it with a loss of $244 million in the first quarter, but its results, excluding the one-time item, matched Wall Street expectations.
The company reported $97 million in realized investment losses in the quarter, which are recorded when a a particular investment is sold, and are treated as a one-time item.
Excluding a one-time item, the company loss was $192 million, or 23 cents loss per share.
"What if it was a one-time item, like a big payment from a member of the Amazon commerce network, like Toys R Us," he says.
Excluding one-time items.
Analysts' estimates generally exclude one-time items.
Excluding one-time items, Kodak earned 60 cents.
