Victor, I think we shall have to disagree. When I decided to invest in a boxmaker I investigated CPQ, DELL, GTW, and HWP. I chose DELL for precisely the reasons I mentioned (and was critical of CPQ and HWP for the same faults). Compaq's great strength in Wintel machines is volume, but its Achilles' heel is inventory. It will never mount a decent showing until it permanently cleans up its inventory problems.
With respect to accounting, I am frankly dumbfounded by your answer. The purpose of SEC accounting is to let shareholders know company financial performance. Accounting needs to reflect that performance, or it is useless.
I think you are in a state of denial. Ask yourself this: precisely why was profitability so low? What can be done to improve it? If you don't think that inventory overhang is the problem, I'd be very curious to find out exactly where you think the problem is and why you believe that to be the case. I'll tell you this: if CPQ's problems were as simple to solve as some people on this thread believe, I'd be in this stock in a heartbeat.
TTFN,
CTC |
