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Technology Stocks : Compaq -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Kenya AA who wrote (66706)	8/16/1999 8:20:00 PM
From: QuentR	Respond to of 97611

EP's golden parachute: tveyes.com tveyes.com

To: Kenya AA who wrote (66706)	8/16/1999 9:22:00 PM
From: Elwood P. Dowd	Respond to of 97611

Monday August 16 8:28 PM ET Notebook Shortage May Sap PC Maker Profits-Analyst NEW YORK (Reuters) - Financial results for notebook computer makers could suffer because of an industry-wide shortage of key components used to make display screens, an analyst with brokerage ABN AMRO warned Monday. ABN AMRO analyst Jonathan Ross said International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM - news) appeared to be affected by a shortage of liquid crystal display (LCD) chips and thus can only meet 70 percent of its notebook output goal for August. The analyst said he was hearing of the shortfall from unnamed ''reliable sources.'' He said other major notebook PC makers that depend on Hitachi Ltd (NYSE:HIT - news). for such LCD driver chips ''may be experiencing similar problems.'' He also estimated that notebook computers represent roughly 23 percent of Dell Computer Corp.'s (Nasdaq:DELL - news) sales turnover, 10 to 15 percent for Compaq Computer Corp. (NYSE:CPQ - news) and around 10 percent for Gateway Inc. (NYSE:GTW - news) ''Such adverse conditions should have a moderately negative earnings impact on notebook suppliers like Dell and Compaq,'' Ross said. Dell spokesman T.R. Reid said he was not aware of the analyst's comments but noted that the notebook display shortage was an on-going, industry-wide problem which was not expected to disappear before the end of 1999. He declined to comment further ahead of Dell's quarterly report due out Tuesday. A Compaq spokesman said the company had recently refreshed its commercial notebook product line with a range of new products ranging from lightweight ultraportables to heavy-duty ''desktop replacement'' notebooks. ''We don't know at this time of any significant supply issues,'' the Compaq spokesman said. IBM spokesman Mike Corrado said he was not aware of any shortage and that IBM had multiple suppliers of LCD screens to alleviate any possible shortage from a single supplier. Analysts believe IBM notebooks, including its ThinkPad line, contribute a disproportionate percentage of the profits for IBM's overall PC business, which is struggling to return to profitability. Hitachi sells its chips to two Taiwanese companies, Quanta Computer Inc. and Inventec Corp., Ross said. Quanta supplies notebook screens to Dell and Gateway, as well as Siemens AG, Apple Computer Inc. (Nasdaq:AAPL - news), while Inventec is a supplier of screens to Compaq. A Hitachi America spokesman said he could not immediately comment and referred calls to a spokesman for Hitachi Semiconductor (USA). He was not available to comment. ''The evidence suggests that while IBM may be bearing the brunt of the shortages, it is an industry-wide problem,'' Ross wrote in a note to his clients Monday. ''While tightness is a good thing, these levels of shortages are likely to have a small but quantifiable negative impact on PC companies' earnings, at least in August and possibly into September,'' he said. Despite the analyst's remarks, shares of PC makers mostly posted gains for the day. IBM stock rose $3-15/16 to $127-7/16, Gateway climbed $2-7/8 to $84-5/8 and Compaq rose 9/16 to $23-5/8, all on the New York Stock Exchange. Apple added 7/16 to end the day at $60-1/2 in Nasdaq stock market action. On the Nasdaq, Dell closed at $41-7/16, unchanged on the day. Dell reports results for its second quarter ended in July after the close of regular session trading Tuesday. The Wall Street consensus is for Dell to earn 17 cents per share, according to brokers surveyed by First Call/Thomson Financial. Search News Stories Search News Photos Aug 15 \| Aug 14 \| Aug 13 \| Aug 12 \| Aug 11 \| Aug 10 \| Aug 09 \| Aug 08 \| Aug 07 \| Aug 06 Home \| Top Stories \| Business \| Tech \| Politics \| World \| Local \| Entertainment \| Sports \| Science \| Health