|
And, shockingly, it looks as though the market may be waking up to the
facts, if only a little. My favorite market rag, Briefing's take on
the Intel report is instructive. Highlights include:
"Optimists will term this sequential decline a normal seasonal drop, but it was second only to Q4 1998 (-7.8%) as the worst Q4 of the decade, and it was below analysts' estimates." ...
"Interest/other income also offered an upside surprise, coming in at $347 mln instead of the expected $200 mln." ...
"..should produce Q2 EPS of about $0.54, just below the First Call consensus.." ...
"The reality for Intel and most all participants in the PC sector is that sales growth is slowing. Compaq's (CPQ) warning on Friday was not company-specific, and is instead a reflection of two key factors that are hurting PC sales. First, corporate profits were down in 1998 on an as-reported basis. When profits fall, investment in capital equipment (such as PCs with Intel chips) usually suffers. Second, pre-Y2K PC purchases juiced sales in 1998 but are subsiding in 1999."
briefing.com
-mb |
