good Evening Jamac,
Well here we go again
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Friday March 6, 6:53 pm Eastern Time
AFTER THE BELL- Compaq down on warning, Dell drops
NEW YORK, March 6 (Reuters) - Shares of Compaq fell over two points in after-hours trading Friday after the personal computer maker said it expects its first quarter results to fall below Wall Street expectations, traders said.
Shares of Dell Computer Corp (DELL - news) dropped over six points after Compaq gave its first quarter outlook.
Compaq traded as low as 25 after the regular session, down from a close of 27-5/8. The stock
recovered over an hour after the bell, trading at 25-7/8.
Dell traded at 132-7/8 after hours, down from its unofficial close of 138-1/2.
Compaq expects first quarter sales to be about the same as those of the first quarter a year ago.
The personal computer maker said it expects earnings to break-even. The First Call consensus
earnings estimate for the quarter, based on 32 analysts, was $0.35 per share.
Compaq cited stiff competition in North America and price cuts as the cause of the earnings shortfall.
Dell, a personal computer maker, did not release news prior to the Compaq earnings warning.
Following the after-hours run on its stock, the company said it is feels no ''unique'' price
pressures and PC demand continues ''firm'' in major markets.
Dealers said the sell-off in Dell stock was likely because of fears Dell earnings may suffer as a
result of competition and pricing in the personal computer market.
Compaq Computer Corp [NYSE:CPQ - news] told a Merrill Lynch Technology conference March 3 the pricing environment was somewhat tougher in January and Merrill said it lowered its
near-term rating on the stock to accumulate from buy.
Compaq did not give any change in earnings guidance for the quarter, but Merrill analyst Lucy Painter lowered her December 1998 earnings estimate to $1.80 per share from $1.85 per share.
Dell said it was continuing to price its products ''within historical bands.'' On March 3, Compaq
cut the prices on its entire range of Armada Notebook PCs.
Over two hours after the close Compaq dropped to 24, while Dell traded further down at 132-3/8.
Shares of IBM Corp's (IBM - news) stock fell to 96 in late after hours trading, down from an
unofficial close of 98-3/8. At the same time, shares of Microsoft Corp(MSFT - news) fell over
two points, trading at 80-3/4, down from a close of 82-3/4.
Shares of Hewlett-Packard Co (HWP - news) remained unchanged from their close of 61-3/8 in after-hours trading.
The New York Stock Exchange said session one trading volume was 507,100 shares compared
with 862,200 the previous session. Session two volume was 1.45 million shares compared with
950,919 Thursday.
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