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

To: TechMkt who wrote (156818)	5/6/2000 7:08:00 PM
From: calgal	Respond to of 176387

Herb Part Two: Dueling Dells -- Now for the Other Side of the Story thestreet.com By Herb Greenberg Senior Columnist 5/5/00 8:30 AM ET Dinging Dell, Redeux: Yesterday, it was longtime bear Bill Fleckenstein with the reason he believes Dell (DELL:Nasdaq -news - boards) is likely to either guide analysts down in expectations of 21 cents per share for the second quarter that ends June 30 -- or simply miss it altogether. That prompted the equally not-shy Michael Murphy, best known for his California Technology Stock Letter, to pass along what he believes to be just the opposite. (This is what he told subscribers to his Technology Investing newsletter, which is diff from the California sheet, when he gave Dell an aggressive recommendation.) If anything, says the Murph, when Dell reports on May 11 for the first quarter, it won't just beat estimates by at least a penny, but will also beat second-quarter estimates -- which Fleck thinks the company will miss by as much as 2 cents. His reasons: The March quarter grew 15% "even without Win2000. Corporations bought almost nothing before the Win2000 intro because they hate to do OS upgrades." Then there's Europe, "which is exploding right now as sub-$600 PCs catch on for Internet access." This quarter, he says, the mix shifts to "Win2000 high-end servers, which helps beat the quarter." And "Dell passes Compaq (CPQ:NYSE - news - boards) to become the No. 1 PC supplier this year, perhaps as early as the July Q." Meanwhile, he says, the Street's future growth expectations have been "cranked down to 33% from 50% and that's already in the stock [that] sells for a P/E less than two times its growth rate -- not bad for the No. 1 player in a tech industry." Even if its growth has slowed and it still trades at 81 times last year's earnings? Nothing like two smart guys disagreeing. Inside the real Wall Street: "I had to laugh when I read your 'musings' this a.m., re: the Merrill analyst's 'timely' downgrade of Conseco (CNC:NYSE - news - boards)," writes a former longtime Merrill employee who requests anonymity because of his role there. He's referring to the analyst who downgraded the stock only after it fell to 6 from 50. "I had a ringside seat to witness much of Conseco's bullying of the Street in their heyday. In the 1990s, Conseco generated about $15 million per year in commissions just in fixed income to Merrill. I remember once when the Merrill analyst downgraded them: They blasted the poor salesman who covered the account and cut us off from all business for quite a while. "While the analyst stuck to his guns, you had to know that the experience was in the back of his mind every time he considered making a move on Conseco. I'm sure you know this type of thing happens every day on Wall Street, but I can tell you that Conseco was amongst the worst of the 'bullies' in terms of using their investment activity to influence the activities of the Street." So far! The more stories like this, the more level the playing field. Reader revolt: Typical of my email in the wake of an item here earlier this week on Cyber-Care (CYBR:Nasdaq - news - boards) was this, from Joanna Burks, who writes: "This story is junk and you know it! Heard of bad karma? Study up on it. This is not your first karma violation. Shame." In other words, folks, the Hostile React-O-Meter is spinning outta control, I tell ya, spinning outta control ... And from someone named Farhad comes this, regarding my reporting on Fleckenstein's comments on Dell: "I will make this short as I know it will end up in your trash bin! All I ask is that if you and Fleck turn out to be wrong on May 11, admit it in your column on May 12. The bulls on Dell will certainly admit it if they were wrong (By selling!!). But will you?? My guess is that in this era of 'paid financial journalists' it will never happen." To which I wrote: "Go back and read my semiannual report cards (and all of the interim concessions) before you make that kind of accusation." Finally, after Cramer penned his column yesterday defending my talking to sources like Bill Fleckenstein -- for which I usually take an inordinate amount of grief -- reader Bill Smith wrote: "Keep up the good work ... anyone with any brains understands what you are doing." "Which," I shot back, "explains a lot!" Herb Greenberg writes daily for TheStreet.com. In keeping with TSC's editorial policy, he doesn't own or short individual stocks, though he owns stock in TheStreet.com. He also doesn't invest in hedge funds or other private investment partnerships. He welcomes your feedback at herb@thestreet.com. Greenberg also writes a monthly column for Fortune. Mark Martinez assisted with the reporting of this column. Original story: thestreet.com

To: TechMkt who wrote (156818)	5/6/2000 10:27:00 PM
From: rudedog	Respond to of 176387

Fez - that's one view - but a pretty knowledgeable "semi-insider" (a former exec who still has ties to the company) said that Pesatori wanted to leave after the Tandem integration was complete - when he gave up the "president of Tandem" position - but was talked into staying on "just for another year" in a staff position. Then when Pfeiffer and the rest were axed, he was again talked into staying on "just for another year" to get the Enterprise group organized. According to this guy, senior execs have known for several months that there would be no third extension of Pesatori's departure. That squares with other things I have heard. I'm not sure if I would portray CPQ's current position as "Positive" - there are good things happening but the real proof is in the numbers, and those have been only so-so to date. I just don't think Pesatori's twice-delayed departure is a sign of anything but his desire to get out of the rat race. As far as the other 8 or 10 executives you refer to, I don't think they jumped ship - I think they walked the plank.