BGR:
IBM has scammed the public in their PC comments this quarter. Here's how.
In Q4, 1997, IBM and Compaq stuffed the channel massively to make their Q4 numbers. In Q1, 1998, CPQ lied about it, but subsequently took it in the face when the lies were exposed. They were further damaged when they reported negligible earnings for Q1 when the street was looking for $0.35. IBM, also absorbed enormous losses in Q1 in its PC endeavours as a result of having to provide huge incentives to clear the channel and as a result of not being able to ship product to a plugged channel. Their loss on PC activities for the Q1 period was close to half a billion dollars and THEY SHIPPED MUCH REDUCED PC PRODUCT.
Fast forward to Q1, 1999. IBM PC sales revenues were up significantly over Q1, 1999, and the market gets lathered about this. It shouldn't. This quarter's comparison was last year's disaster, which means that almost any activity would look good. It should also be noted that IBM still managed to lose $89.0 million on PC sales during Q1, which is not something to get excited about.
By the way, most of this info has only become available during this last quarter as a result of IBM now providing segmented information.
Best, Earlie |
