Mary and All,
You might ask Tom Kurlak why after the analyst conference call, when he we were all told during that call, that;
---Q198 revenues and earnings were higher than Tom's forecast, and
---Q298 revenues were expected to be flat to slightly lower, but was forecasted to be higher than he previously anticipated, and
---Q198 margins were higher than he forecast, and
---Q298 margins were expected to be the lowest of the year, and
---that Intel saw H298 sales improving and once again resume Intel's growth, and
---Payroll will decrease by 3000 employees and
---Capital spending would be decreased by $300 million in 98, and
---Intel introduced new products just yesterday, including Celeron for the low end market that Tom was concerned about, and
---Intel told him in direct response to his question, that inventories were in line with Intel's expectations, and
---that the increase in inventory of $125 million was mostly the result of purchased Pentium II cartridges, and
---yesterday Microsoft announced that Windows 98 would be released in June, and
---Intel said that Merced was on target for release in 1999, and
---Intel's tax rate going forward would be lower than the 35% we saw in Q198, and
---the one time charge for the acquisition of Chips & Tech would never appear again on the P & L, and
---the acquisition of DEC's Mass. Fab will most likely be approved in Q2, and
---that Intel has a stock buy-back program in place that should be used to neutralize the volatile reactions caused by Tom Kurlak's influential and often unsupported forecasts.
Then...My questions are... exactly what did Tom Kurlak discover Tuesday night from the Intel conference call that caused him to lower his 1998 and 1999 estimates after the Q1 earnings release?.... And did he, or did he not, say that Intel could go to $60 a share?... And exactly who was responsible for CNBC reporting the $60 target price which aborted the Intel rally and caused panic selling in the last hour of trading yesterday afternoon?
Jules |
