JD, Dell is a strong buy! Just don't feed the bears. :)Leigh
quote.bloomberg.com
Dell Computer Shares Rise on Higher Corporate Demand for PCs
By Loren Steffy
Dell Computer Shares Rise on Higher Corporate Demand for PCs
Round Rock, Texas, March 9 (Bloomberg) -- Shares of Dell
Computer Corp., the No. 1 direct-seller of personal computers, rose 7.46 percent amid signs that corporate customers are buying more PCs.
Dell rose 3 1/2 to 50 7/16 in trading of 71.1 million shares, making it the most-active U.S. stock. The shares have fallen about 1 percent this year.
In January, Dell warned investors that earnings for the
quarter ended Jan. 28 would be little changed as companies bought fewer PCs because of Year 2000 concerns. Now, those concerns are easing and sales are returning.
``Over the last two weeks, we've seen reports of improving
corporate PC demand, which obviously Dell would be the biggest beneficiary of,' said Trent May, manager of the Invesco Growth Fund, which has its biggest computer-related investment in Dell.
Most analysts now expect Dell to earn 16 cents a share for its fiscal first quarter, unchanged from the same period last year, according to a survey by First Call/Thomson Financial.
Earlier this week, market researcher IDC said Dell passed
rival Compaq Computer Corp. as the biggest seller of PCs to largeand mid-size businesses.
``The company should have no problem exceeding the
recalibrated earnings,' said Ashok Kumar, an analyst with U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray, who rates Dell a ``strong buy.'
In issuing the warning, Dell officials lowered investors'
expectations for future quarters as well, saying the company's sales would increase about 30 percent from year earlier quarters.
From 1996 through 1998, when Dell was the best-performing stock on the Standard & Poor's 500 Index, sales rose 50 percent or more every quarter. |
