[Fabozz]

"Apple, a much smaller company than Microsoft, had earnings about 1/4 of those of its larger rival."

You are not using the word "earnings" correctly. Apple's revenue may be a quarter of Microsoft's. Its earnings, however, are about one twentieth of Microsoft's, because as a hardware manufacturer Apple has tremendous expenses that Microsoft simply doesn't.

For this quarter, analysts project Apple to make $174 million in profit, Microsoft $3.47 billion, making Microsoft's earnings one full order of magnitude greater than Apple's. This is admittedly not "several," but it's still quite significant.

[Swordmaker]

You are not using the word "earnings" correctly.

Thanks... you are correct. I was sloppy in my posting. I did intend it to mean revenue as that was what was being discussed.