Stepping back to the "Q"
Also: Bulls and bears sound off on Intel
By Shawn Langlois, CBS MarketWatch
Last Update: 11:47 PM ET Apr 19, 2000
NewsWatch
Your thoughts
"Oh honey, you know I couldn't stay mad at you!"
The Internet's most torrid stock love affair was back in bloom on
Qualcomm's message boards. After enduring the rampant selling that had
investors tip-toeing dangerously towards the brink of financial oblivion,
shares of Qualcomm (QCOM: news, msgs), thanks to an impressive
earnings report, have, once again, found themselves firmly back in the
Street's, and the Web's, good graces.
Twisted and torn, a
worn-out WyoDude
managed to stick to
his guns on Raging
Bull: "I've been trying
to keep the faith, that
is, when the market is
gyrating wildly and it
feels like I should do
something (anything?)
I know that the best
thing to do is just sit
tight and do nothing. Obviously easier said than done. Great news on
QCOM's latest quarter. My faith in QCOM has not been shaken. Long
and Strong. Looking at my old digs at 150 Q Street, currently
unoccupied."
Steter expected more of the same from the upcoming quarter: "If you will
recall, last quarter in the conference call (cc) the Q warned of a chip sales
slowdown. This forward looking statement led to an immediate sell-off of
the Q stock and was the catalyst for last qtrs. negative sentiment from
investors. The positive forward looking statements yesterday in the cc
should send a message out that Q is now back in the high growth mode
with exceptional results coming in the next few qtrs. I hope the analysts
see this and we get some upgrades and investors come back to the Q
turning the sentiment positive. It should be a very good year going
forward."
And on the Yahoo boards, despite some bearish
rants, posts like this one from LovLee were the
norm: "The reason I am so ecstatic is the last
quarter has been hell and for all of us longs, we
have sweated it out together and even sometimes
questioned our position. The warning that was
issued last quarter earnings hurt us as the institutions
shunned Qualcomm, and we hung strong through
the turbulence. I could have planted some of this
money elsewhere I knew that, albeit I am well
diversified still you want your money to work best.
Now I am glad I hung."
Over on The Motley Fool, KingRex was very
representative of these love-struck shareholders: "I
also want QCOM to take-out the last peak
($162), but I don't mind if it doesn't happen for a
year, as long as it takes-out the $1620 peak in 10
years, which would nicely coincide with my planned
retirement. It's all about your time frame. I think a
large percentage of those here would be satisfied
with the longer horizon, but it's become fashionable
to want to earn at hyperspeed, and for this I blame the media ... gee, don't
they just seem to be the usual suspect?"
Yeah, can you believe the nerve of those media folk?
At any rate, the worst appears to be over for the "Quillionaires" as their
stock racked up a solid 2.3 percent gain in Monday's soft market. Mind
you, shares gave in to the seller's by closing nearly $10 off the day's high,
but in the green is in the green -- and that's no easy feat nowadays.
Come visit MarketWatch's QCOM board and share your thoughts on
what's next for the big "Q."
The flip side
On the other hand, shares of Intel, another message board darling,
succumbed to selling pressures on Wednesday despite some robust
earnings of their own. See full story.
As tends to happen on Yahoo, the bears, like StockConsultant, came
out of hibernation to feast upon the reeling stock: "Intel (INTC: news,
msgs) is a one product company that deserves a stock price of no more
than $20. INTC can just keep on making more Pentiums because that's
all it can sell. We don't need more speed to surf the Internet ... so what
other products can INTC sell? NOTHING!"
And TSGeru pointed
to the competition:
"AMD is eating into
Intel's market share
and, for now, INTC
makes the major part
of it's money in the
chip sector. Intel tried
to break into the gfx
market awhile back
and got crushed buy the little guys. Do you know anyone who owns an
Intel gfx card? One company can't supply the world with all these chips.
AMD is a much better play in the long run. Intel has no chance in hell to
grow as fast as AMD. Intel has already grown over the past 10 years. It's
AMD's turn now."
On Silicon Investor, Dan3 typed his way onto the crowded AMD vs.
Intel virtual battlefield: "By the time Intel gets its act together again, AMD
will be sitting on billions in capital, several new state of the art FABs
(don't forget to include FASL if you're comparing FAB counts), will have
two independent design centers in place (Austin, Dresden), and will have
a solid presence in the corporate market. It will never again be as easy for
Intel as it has been in the past."
But, c'mon, everyone can't be bearish -- after all, few tech companies
made it through the Nasdaq disaster as cleanly as Intel, right? WillCousa
certainly felt that way when he addressed the question of Intel's inability to
fill those mounting orders:
"So INTC was unable to meet demand, had competition, and still held
market share. Why does a company in that position need to build capacity
ahead of need? Isn't the smart way to play this to build capacity only
when need is proven? And perhaps have the chance to increase prices in
the process? Didn't materialize buy possibility was enhanced. New FABs
are becoming more expensive and the competition can't afford much in the
way of new capacity. So what's the hurray? What is the chance that most
of INTC's 800+ processors went to servers rather than PC's? Could that
explain why Dell is still so accommodating?"
Say what you will about the company and its future, but no matter where
Intel venture's in the short-term, those indignant bulls will be right there to
defend that stock with a Himalayan chart.
What side of Intel's fence do you sit on? Tell us in the MarketWatch
INTC Group.
Shawn Langlois is community editor for CBS MarketWatch.
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