Holiday PC sales meet lowered expectations--analyst
NEW YORK, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Sales of personal computers
over the Thanksgiving weekend were in line with lowered
expectations and not a huge disappointment like last year,
influential Bear Stearns computer hardware analyst Andrew Neff
said on Tuesday.
In a research note, Neff said that according to retail
stores including Best Buy Co. <BBY.N>, Circuit City Stores
<CC.N> and Comp USA and some PC makers, sales were in line with
lowered expectations as customers focused on low-end models and
rebate packages.
"Almost none of the retailers we checked with complained of
a sharp disappointment," Neff wrote.
Neff said while this could be positive in the short-term
for PC stocks, which include Dell Computer Corp <DELL.O>,
Compaq Computer Corp. <CPQ.N>, Gateway Inc. <GTW.N> and
Hewlett-Packard Co. <HWP.N>, it may be too late to buy those
stocks given expectations of a weak first half of 2002.
Neff's comments were in line with those from
Hewlett-Packard, which on Monday said that sales of PCs rose as
much as 10 percent or more during Thanksgiving weekend compared
with the year-ago weekend.
The Thanksgiving weekend traditionally marks the beginning
of the crucial holiday shopping season, and the fourth quarter
is typically the strongest for PC makers. Last year's weak
sales not only kicked off a long slump in the PC industry but
also sparked a price war among computer makers.
((Caroline Humer, New York Technology desk, 1 646 223-6181,
caroline.humer@reuters.com))
REUTERS
*** end of story *** |
