ALL: COMPUTER SALES ACCELERATING
Thought the following article would be of interest. While it talks strictly about computer sales, I don't think you have to take a very big leap to conclude that this trend is good for every segment of the technology sector.
The article comes from a Bear Sterns article titled "Computer Week in Preview"
Strong Computer Orders: As we noted recently, contrary to current anxiety,
orders for computer equipment accelerated in February according to the
Commerce Department data, showing a 17.9% gain in February (on a 12-month
basis), up from a 13.3% gain in January and a 3.5% gain in December, indicating
a pickup in demand for computer orders. (Note that these are in dollars not units.)
Also shipments showed the same accelerating trend (up 8.9% in December, up
12.2% in January, and up 17.6% in February). This result is consistent with our
comments on end-demand that we noted in our recent "Computer Snapshot",
although some of these trends are masked by the inventory reduction efforts by
Compaq and IBM. Moreover and importantly, this uptick is similar to the pickup
we saw last year at this time, during a comparable period of anxiety for
technology stocks, but which turned out to be the start of a pronounced upward
move in technology stocks. The one-month gain was up 88% in February after a
43% annualized gain in January. Also, Europe continues to strengthen as we have
noted.
JD |
