Jim, With Gateway, none. Just a suspicion. Their accounting is so convuluted with all the stores and Underwear program, that I just can't get a handle on it. With Dell, it is simply growth in receivables vs. growth in revenues. In the Oct quarter, receivables were up nearly 20% sequentially while sales were up a little over 10%. That was an astounding receivables pump to save the quarter. That rebounded on them this quarter, obviously, but even 1Q's much more muted pump was a big jump in receivables over the previous year, though a downtick from the epic third quarter pump. Other than that, I heard from several cos. that Dell was offering great reasons to accept delivery before the end of the quarter, including rebates and stretched out payments. Again, this was much more so in the third quarter than the 4th, but still present in the 4th.
The question is, how big are the incentives and will they hit SG&A this quarter or will Dell keep doing pumps. Since they are calling for much lower revenue growth, my guess is they swallow the medicine this quarter or the next.
MB |
