Sarmad,
You have asked your question as to whether or not DD companies can make money at these prices several times. Don't forget what Steve Luzco said at the last CC: it isn't a price war, it's a cost war. So perhaps a better question is, have they shaved costs enough yet? Well, Maxtor said in its last "we're doing better" announcement that "doing better" meant that they were losing less money than they had previously guided analysts to expect. Seagate was the only DD vendor to make a profit last quarter. That will probably be the same this quarter, IMO.
It obviously is good that prices are firming at retail, but as Mark has pointed out more than once in the past, his survey doesn't take into account which drives are actually selling the most and can't take into account the largest source of revenue by far for DD companies, prices that OEMs pay.
I'm not Stitch, and hope he weighs in on this issue, but that, FWIW, is my guess. Meanwhile, Seagate and HDD are both still good asset plays at these price levels, IMO. s. |
