Hi Edamo, thanks for the response. Re:<< as andrew grove has stated, a business reaches a "strategic inflection" point...where if change is not made, the business falls behind..>> Lets not forget that Grove also said..."only the paranoid survive".
I can't say much about the oil business because I don't have any experience,nor feel for the business. However, the hi-tech business is another thing. I spent my career in this business...in fact, I can remember when Andy Grove worked as an engineer for Fairchild Semiconductor. You may, or may not remember Fairchild. They, like Signetics, were some of the pioneers in the semiconductor field along with TI and Motorola. However, because Fairchild and Signetics made some fundamental mistakes in their business, they are long gone. Of course, TI and Motorola are still around. But, lets not forget that even these two companies have been recently "beaten up"...yes, I know that TI is now back and making new highs, and Motorola is turning around. My point is simply that the hi-tech industry is very risky as companies come and go as the technology changes. I'm sure this applies to many other type of business, but the hi-tech sector has a long list of companies that just didn't make it. Many were leaders in their "hay day".
Dell is a great company, good products, and fine management. However, its still run by humans who can make mistakes. Tom Meredith admitted as much when he said that Dell should have dropped their pricing and picked up addition revenues. He stated this during their last quarter's conference call. This "miscalculation" caused the revenue to fall from an estimated 5.5 billion to 5.2 billion. As a result, the "Street" now wants Dell to "show me the money" before they start to move the stock up to new highs.
While all this plays out, why not move all, or a portion, of one's Dell investment into a sector/companies that's providing higher returns on one's investment? The internet stocks as an example. Of course, such a move is a very personal decision and depends on one's ability to manage risk. (I no way am I recommending that anyone buy internet stocks.)
Guess I'll end here, hate to post long messages. By the way, I hope everything in the oil business worked out in your favor. Must be a tough business...but, then again, what business isn't tough?
Stock Bull |
