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

To: Jonathan Edwards who wrote (5559)	9/17/1999 8:29:00 PM
From: puborectalis	Respond to of 8219

Technology News Fri, 17 Sep 1999, 8:06pm EDT IBM Falls as Merrill Analyst Milunovich Cuts Forecast for Hardware Sales By Loren Steffy IBM Falls as Analyst Cuts Hardware Sales Estimates (Update1) (updates shares.) Armonk, New York, Sept. 17 (Bloomberg) -- International Business Machines Corp. shares fell 3.6 percent after a Merrill Lynch & Co. analyst lowered his estimates for hardware revenue at the world's biggest computer maker. IBM, based in Armonk, New York, fell 4 5/8 to 125 3/8 in trading of 14.9 million shares, making it one of the most active stocks in U.S. markets. Merrill analyst Steven Milunovich cut his estimate for third- quarter hardware sales growth to 4 percent from 6 percent in a report issued today. Sales of large mainframe computers are expected to fall 10 percent, and the declining hardware numbers could hurt the stock in the next month, Milunovich said. ''Typically, investors react to hardware numbers when IBM reports results,'' he said. ''The company is facing difficult (comparisons).'' Milunovich, who rates IBM a ''buy,'' said he still expects the company to meet earnings estimates of 91 cents a share. IBM is scheduled to report earnings Oct. 20. Although hardware sales may be lower than expected, IBM's overall growth is being driven by software and sales, its fastest- growing divisions, he said. IBM's computer sales surged 22 percent to $9.4 billion in the second quarter. The unit recovered from the first half of 1998, when personal computer revenue slumped after the company slashed prices. The cuts followed a similar move by Compaq Computer Corp., which had stocked too many machines with dealers and distributors.