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Technology Stocks : Dell Technologies Inc. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Patrick E.McDaniel who wrote (143209)	9/30/1999 12:05:00 AM
From: D.J.Smyth	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 176387

rude "Having IBM service the enterprise accounts is putting the fox in charge of guarding the henhouse." IBM isn't that grossly under-rated or under-handed as a professional service organization. The threat to IBM isn't Dell. The threat is Compaq/DEC. Compaq has been aggressively reaching into IBM service accounts as a means of bolstering their decreasing margins and weakening retail sales (HP). The IBM/Dell relationship, as Kumar says, puts another nail in the Compaq coffin. I believe IBM sees this as an opportunity to get back some of the ground they lost in the early 90s to Compaq who MERCILESSLY (no love loss at all) sucked IBM accounts (stock dropped to $20s, as you recall). A world of IBM/Dell is currently more favorable in their minds. For IBM they either (a) help feed the young Bull (Dell) by making an agreement, or by doing nothing (b) inadvertently feed the starving Lion (Compaq). They fed the starving young Lion in the early 90s and it turned on them and nearly killed them.

To: Patrick E.McDaniel who wrote (143209)	9/30/1999 12:43:00 AM
From: rudedog	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 176387

Pat - You can't seriously be questioning whether my posts have content... I rarely waste my time in empty discussion. Since I have faith in DELL's long term health and stability, but have for a year questioned near term price appreciation, I have been using my holding as a basis for writing covered calls. I try and take the position with the best premium at a strike price that I think won't get hit by expiry. So far I have done pretty well. But at some point DELL will take off, and at that point I want to have sold puts, not calls. This is a big deal for me - I have made more than $300K so far this year on DELL options, usually selling 400 or 600 call contracts. One miscalculation could wipe out my gains. The impact of a change in perception by the street is certainly material to my plans. I post my thoughts on this thread because there is a range of opinion here, from very bullish to moderately bearish, much of it well informed and carefully thought through. Whatever ideas I present get thoroughly examined. Sometimes I change my opinion, sometimes I change the opinions of others. If you think a discussion about strategy which is central to DELL's growth plans is empty of content, because it presents something other than the most optimistic possibilities for DELL, than I think you are missing the point of the discussion. If I didn't believe in DELL's prospects I would not continue to hold the stock. But that doesn't mean that I don't want the best possible understanding of what might affect the stock price - in fact, since I need to make a decision on whether to roll my current option position within the next week or so, it is a significant concern. The way people on the thread react (including you) is almost as important as what they say, since it tends to mirror what the more informed investors think, and those attitudes will determine future stock price as much as the underlying business factors.