Loki - re: Aggregate, no profit in 3 years!
I assume you are referring to profits on the stock, since CPQ had only 1 quarter of no profit in the last 12.
However, I have managed to do quite well on options plays in CPQ, both in routine selling of near-term covered calls and with a couple of call buys. Overall in 1999 I actually made money on CPQ, even counting the drop in share price.
Gerstner has done wonders for IBM stock - I am a lot less impressed with where IBM the company is. Their performance in the PC segment makes CPQ look like a great success story... their S390 business continues to erode on a units and revenue basis, as does AS400, and those two businesses are where a lot of IBM's revenue and profit used to be. Gerstner's "dumbell" strategy is interesting but unproven.
I don't hold IBM and have never owned it. Part of the reason for that is my inherent distrust of Gerstner's style - using the cash hoard to buy back shares to inflate EPS, cutting back on technology investment and leadership to go after a services focus... I like Capellas' "vision" much better, I think MC "gets it" and Gerstner does not.
Nothing but good things to say about Armstrong... he would have been a great CEO candidate for CPQ but I can see why he didn't want the job, he was already in the catbird seat. |
