Mary, jumping on the bandwagon for a second about companies that do more than Intel touting their company, here's another CEO who's always doin' it (from Briefing.Com, Tech Stock Analysis page):
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Sun Microsystems remained on a roll, as stock getting good pub after its meeting with analysts... Salomon, Smith Barney, Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers repeated their buy ratings, with the latter company setting a 12-mo price target of 55...
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Now, Sun Micro has been getting put down for a couple of years as suspect/doubtful for continuing growth, because "Wintel is going to blow by them from below in the near term for low - midrange workstations, and gobble up their mid to high end server market when Merced comes out. Sun stock reacts for a while, then Scott McNealy goes on a crusade to say it ain't so. He rivals Dell in TV and analysts' appearances. The stock goes back up. So what? Well, at some point in time the Wintel spectre scenario probably happens, at least to some degree (I believe a lot). However, McNealy won't let the self-fulfilling prophecy happen (FUD, followed by customers being leary, followed by lower sales, more FUD, etc.). In the extreme, this can become a death spiral. McNealy won't let it happen.
Does Intel face any such competition from the lower (or any) end? I don't think so, at least nothing significant. Maybe that's why chest thumping/FUD control isn't on the agenda. But sounds like chest thumping is what near term frustated stockholders want. I'm in for the long term, but must admit I'm envious of the frequent pops the other stocks like Dell (and even now IBM) get when their CEO get the drum and horn out. BTW, IBM used to be like Intel, just let results do the talking and don't worry about the stockholders.
My 2c,
Tony |
