Thanks Caisson. From Dow Jones:
Dow Jones Newswires -- July 9, 1998
PC Makers Gain;Analysts Praise Industry's
Tone,Sales Models
Dow Jones Newswires
NEW YORK -- Sharp gains in the shares of personal-computer makers
Thursday may have been set off by approving nods from two industry
analysts.
Lehman Brothers analyst Kimberly Alexy Thursday praised Dell Computer
Corp. (DELL) and Compaq Computer Corp., (CPQ), calling them her
favorite PC stocks. In a research note, she said the industry's unit sales were
healthy in June. The month-by-month decline in average selling price grew
less steep, though the year-over-year decline remains "aggressive," Alexy
said. Dell, she added, remains in the best position to benefit from current
trends.
More enthusiasm came from Salomon Smith Barney analyst Richard
Gardner, who commended Compaq and Gateway 2000 Inc.'s (GTW) sales
models in a 40-page industry-wide research report. "The two vendors
moving most agressively toward our sales and fulfillment model of the future
are Compaq and Gateway," Gardner wrote.
In the options market, contracts on all these stocks are extremely active.
Gateway, in particular, is trading on a renewed takeover rumor, said traders
- adding that they were skeptical of the talk.
Shares of Gateway recently traded at 61 1/2, up 1 3/4 or 2.9%, on volume
of 5.4 million shares, more than twice the daily average of 2.2 million.
Shares of Dell traded at 100 7/16, up 4 1/16 or 4.2%, on volume of nearly
22 million shares, compared with the daily average of 15 million.
Shares of Compaq traded at 31 3/4, up 1 15/16 or 6.5%, on volume of
31.6 million shares, more than twice the daily average of 14 million.
Shares of International Business Machines (IBM) also traded higher on
Thursday. They recently traded at 117 13/16, up 2 13/16 or 2.4%, on
volume of 3 million shares, compared with the daily average of 3.9 million.
There was also an interesting article about Hewlett Packard in Business Week. Beside the usual blather about the fact that HP's costs are up and that CEO Lew Platt is 'hopping mad', there were statements made concerning HP's PC business. HP management seems to be changing their tone concerning profits and market share. They are now saying that maybe shooting for number one in PC sales over the next few years is NOT such a good idea, and that they will no longer concentrate on sales in lieu of profit/margins. I checked the magazine's web site and don't find this issue listed. It's the one with Steven Spielberg on the cover (translation - I did not catch the date on the issue and don't know if it is very current or the last issue, no longer listed on their web site!!)...
John |
