Hi Kemble! I agree, IBM PC's could well be a target, but I think you allude to an interesting aspect of investor's perceptions regarding Dell. It seems that Dell is not being taken seriously as anything more than a box-maker. This IMO is retarding the stock price at least as much as last quarter's numbers. IBM is accumulating kudos for re-making itself as a a full IT company.
Though Michael and company continue to talk about the evolution of Dell into more than a box-maker, there have been few high-profile moves to emphasize that. Growing organically is a very solid long term strategy, but sometimes it must be supplemented by strategic acquisitions not only to add to credibility, but more importantly to leap-frog into the future one envisions.
IMO the hand writing is on the wall, Dell must move into the higher margin areas of the computer industry and must do so quickly. Neither IBM nor CPQ (even with all of its current troubles) will roll over and play dead. I have complete confidence in Dell's management. I believe they have in place a broad strategic plan. I further believe they are systematically putting in place the pieces to make that plan come together. Unfortunately I'm not clever enough to have figured out what that plan is. However, we can surely see some of the pieces:
Gigabuys, e-commerce investments and alliances, the IBM components deal, the request for increasing the number of outstanding shares, the new facilities in Tenn. and so on. I've never been very good at jig-saw puzzles, so the picture isn't yet in focus for me. Perhaps others here are better at this sort of thing and I think we might all profit from a continuing dialogue on this subject. Regards and aloha. |
