IBM, Dell Forecasts Reduced by Prudential Securities
from Bloomberg:
By Paul Horvitz
Armonk, New York, Dec. 28 (Bloomberg) -- International Business Machines Corp. and Dell Computer Corp. forecasts were reduced by Prudential Securities Kimberly Alexy, who blamed slowing sales of personal computers and related products.
Alexy cut her fourth-quarter sales estimate to $24.5 billion from $25.3 billion for IBM, the biggest computer maker, she wrote to clients. IBM's PC, hard-disk drive and software businesses won't meet prior forecasts, and corporate computer spending has slowed, she said. Alexy kept her earnings estimate of $1.39 a share for the quarter, citing IBM's control of expenses.
The analyst also reduced fourth-quarter sales and profit projections for Dell, the No. 1 direct seller of PCs, saying demand for PCs has dropped further since she cut estimates Dec. 4. Demand for servers, which run Web sites and distribute data on networks, also has slowed since then, she said.
Alexy reduced her sales estimate for the quarter to $8.29 billion from $8.38 billion and her per-share earnings estimate to 23 cents from 26 cents. She lowered her fiscal 2002 sales-growth estimate to 15 percent from 20 percent and her per-share earnings outlook to $1.06 from $1.12.
The shares of Round Rock, Texas-based Dell fell 31 cents to $17.69 in early trading. IBM fell $1.75 to $82.94. Alexy rates Dell ``strong buy'' and IBM ``hold.''
IBM, based in Armonk, New York, is among the few computer- related companies that haven't issued lower fourth-quarter sales or profit forecasts. Dell, Compaq Computer Corp., Intel Corp. and Microsoft Corp. are among the companies that have cut their estimates this quarter.
Best Regards, J.T. |
