Dell is bruised, but it's still a champ
By Tom Bemis, CBS MarketWatch
Last Update: 4:38 PM ET Feb 20, 1999
NewsWatch
ROUND ROCK, Texas (CBS.MW) -- Dell Computer, whose shares were
clobbered after it reported a slowdown in revenue growth this week, is still a
champion at its business.
"Is this the best PC sales company that ever
existed?" Daniel Niles of BancBoston Robertson
Stephens asked Barron's magazine. "Yes."
Niles was one of two analysts to cut his revenue
forecast for Dell (DELL) ahead of Tuesday's earnings
report.
He told the magazine he's still cautious, even with
Dell's price near 80, because it's not clear if revenue
growth has permanently slowed.
Even with lowered revenue, Dell continues to outpace
rivals like Compaq (CPQ), Gateway (GTW) and IBM
(IBM) at selling machines online and keeping
extremely low inventories, Barron's reported.
Gateway grew its direct-sale quarterly revenues for
the December period 17 percent over the previous
year compared with 56 percent at Dell, company
officials told the magazine.
And the Dell notebook market grew 4.2 times faster than its rivals.
Opportunities still exist for the company, as sales outside of Europe and the
Americas are just 6 percent of the company's total. The company also plans
to boost sales of high-profit servers and notebooks to 50 percent of its total.
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