TO Thread from CBS marketwatch.com:PC makers face tougher road ahead
By Tom Bemis, CBS MarketWatch
Last Update: 6:51 PM ET Apr 17, 1999
NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- Compaq Computer's earnings disappointment has been labeled as a company specific problem by some analysts, but fund managers are beginning to see the end of big growth for personal computer makers, according to a published report.
PCs are going the way of video-cassette recorders, Brian Salerno, a portfolio manager for the MunderNetNet Fund, told Barron's magazine.
Salerno is steering funds away from any PC stocks except possibly Gateway (gtw: news, msgs)."The PC is definitely a commodity," he told the magazine.
Some analysts have argued that since Compaq dominates the low-end and low-margin region of PC sales, it is more vulnerable than Dell (dell: news, msgs) or Hewlett-Packard (hwp: news, msgs).
"Investors may have to revalue these companies before they're good buys again," Roger Kay, an analyst with the International Data Corporation, told Barron's.
Dataquest, a Silicon Valley analyst firm, sees PC prices falling 10 to 13 percent in 1999. Even if high-end companies hang on, they'll have to rely sales of peripherals and add-on services to keep margins fat.
Sales of servers, the computers that host web sites, should continue to be strong, analysts told the magazine.
(Barron's)
cbs.marketwatch.com
Sorry if yet posted-regards to All, L.M.Trentadue
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