COMPUSA INC. (CPU) 27 1/4 -5 5/16. Shares of electronic superstore retailer have run into some heavy selling today as the news from Intel seems to have had a greater impact on this issue than other electronic retailers. While the stock was initially halted for a trade imbalance at the start of trading, the stock has had little luck making up ground today as the slowdown in PC sales that are creating the problems for Intel are also expected to hurt sales at this retailer. Still, while the short-term outlook is clouded by the fact that overall PC sales are expanding at a slower pace than initially anticipated, sales of the sub-$1,000 PCs should contribute to this company's bottom line longer term, although it will need to do more volume in order to offset the declining average selling prices. Hence, it appears that investors are betting, at least in the short-run, that the company will not be able to make-up for this drop in demand with higher unit sales, prompting the company to miss with its fiscal Q3 earnings. Presently, the company is projected to earn $0.42 a share in Q3, 20% better than year-ago profit of $0.35 a share. For the full-year ending in June, the company is projected to earn $1.33 a share, a full 33% ahead of year-ago profits. However, with the growing perception that PC sales may not be as robust, the stock is tumbling. Yet, longer-term, the lower priced PCs should entice buyers to purchase these lower end models, but the risk remains that future shopping will be done via on-line retailers rather than at a superstore.
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