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Technology Stocks : Dell Technologies Inc.
DELL 128.08+4.5%2:19 PM EST

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To: JRI who wrote (149091)12/11/1999 8:21:00 PM
From: Meathead  Read Replies (2) of 176387
 
Hello JRI.

Rudedog's concerns are legitimate and have a great deal
to do with why the stock is weak. A lot of people don't
believe Dell's growth plans will pan out because the
market is, and will continue to shift away from Dell's
core competency of selling hardware. The thinking is
that there will be an excremental decay in ASP's that
will catch Dell off guard. Dell's insistence on
being a pure PC company will ultimately strangle
them if they don't move away from the PC ala CPQ and HP.

This could happen if management is dead wrong in
their vision for growth. However, I've yet to see a
good numerical analysis covering plausible scenarios.
For every
action there is a reaction. If your competitors are
running like mad to get out of the business that you're
in, should you join them in the exodous? That depends
on why they're retreating. If it's because the future
of the business is basically doomed in terms of growth
and profit no matter how efficient you are, then yes.
But, if it's because they're throwing in the towel and
admitting defeat because they aren't structured to compete
profitably then you stay the course and take their market
share.

I believe both of these scenarios are playing out
right now. The PC/server/storage market isn't
doomed but it's future doesn't seem as bright
to investors as the markets which range from
Pokemon pagers to ecommerce consulting, and,
Dell is very difficult to compete
with in the hardware space but not impossible.

But again, as ASP's continue to drop, volumes
in the PC/server/storage space are going to
increase at an incredible rate over the next
several years as the world wires up so it's
going to have a lot of profit potential.

As for Dell's weak product line. I don't think
it's terribly weak. Corporate offerings are still
strong but RAMBUS is a fiasco and may cause more
pain. Reliance on Intel still a concern but
RCC made it's way into the server line this
time around.

The consumer product offerings are what pale in
comparison to their competitors at the moment.
But remember, Dell is still new in this space.
Let's see where they are next christmas. If
they still lag by then they can forget any
significant market share... but I wouldn't bet
on it.

Just saw the first WebPC commercial. It was
pretty good. A little late for the xmas buying
season however. I am somewhat critical
of the product itself and the slogan "Born to Web"
is pretty lame. We'll see...

MEATHEAD
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