Is No One Scared by Dell?
By James J. Cramer
2/17/99 10:34 AM ET
Resilient son of a gun, isn't it? I mean, we are sitting here being amazed, shocked
at how well this tape takes it all. I doubted Mark Haines when he pronounced all is
well at 9:45, but I should have been buying, I guess, rather than snickering.
Yeah, it is a tough business, all right. Sitting here banging out Intel (INTC:Nasdaq)
and then realizing that's wrong -- at least for now.
What is the market saying? How about that Dell's (DELL:Nasdaq) problems are
being caused by a price war that's good for the suppliers? Or maybe that Dell was
fully discounted at 75?
Or maybe that there's a ton of money coming in now that things aren't so bullish.
Or maybe, ultimately, that this is early, that we have a long day ahead of us and
that we have seen the top (let's call that the Berko option because my partner, Jeff
Berkowitz, is even more skeptical of the strength than I am).
Compounding the confusion, the consumer brand names, the traditional
flight-to-quality offerings, aren't doing squat! Is no one scared by Dell?? In the
background I got guys talking about the Dell train pulling out of the station!!
There's a book I read to my youngest, about a girl with a purple purse. Repeatedly,
any time people see things they can't believe, all they can say is "wow."
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