Rudedog, I take your comments seriously about constantly being alert for news & data that impact my investment holdings. I don't take any of these investments for granted - not even DELL.
Although I view DELL as the quintessential renegade or maverick in its industry, unlike these stereotypes it is very focused & disciplined - the secret to success in any business. Since I've owned this stock [August, 1996] DELL has done no wrong. As far as I'm concerned, from an investment viewpoint, I've been very fortunate with this stock & may continue to be - but, you never know! Therefore, I keep a major hard copy portfolio of all DELL press releases, quarterly & annual reports, articles, & commentaries from the various internet sites. More importantly, I conduct on-going fundamental analysis based on the research & quarterly reports and I keep track of certain key research release dates from IDC & Dataquest. The next key research release will be the European 1st quarter data that comes out in about 2 weeks. This will be followed by worldwide 1st quarter data that comes out the following week. The European research data is very telling - as it was for Q4 where DELL had approximately 50% sequential growth [389k units]. If DELL generates 35% sequential growth in Europe in Q1 they then require 0% sequential growth in the rest of the world to achieve 44› eps for Q1. Interesting, n'est-ce pas? |
