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

To: rudedog who wrote (87337)	12/1/2000 1:46:53 PM
From: Piotr Koziol	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 97611

rudedog and thread, some NICE stuff from the Zoo: CPQ Thanksgiving Sales were Strong by: jimcpim 12/1/00 1:25 pm Msg: 199720 of 199729 !=DJ Compaq CEO -2: Says 4Q Inventory Positions Are 'Fine' Dow Jones News Service via DowVision December 1, 2000 By Anne Brady Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (Dow Jones)--When Compaq Computer Corp. (CPQ) Chief Executive Michael Capellas showed up Thursday night for dinner and a Sheryl Crow concert at the Credit Suisse First Boston Technology Conference here, he expected the mood to be a bit somber, given the recent declines in the stock market. Instead, he said, he was surprised to find people very warm and friendly. "Everyone wanted to know how my Thanksgiving was," he quipped Friday morning, speaking at the investment conference at the Phoenician resort. Late Wednesday, Gateway Inc. (GTW) cited poor sales over the Thanksgiving weekend when it revised downward its earnings guidance for the fourth quarter and for 2001. Gateway executives said the slowdown was not company-specific, but Capellas said Friday that Compaq sales over the winter holidays' top shopping period were strong. "We did see pretty robust sales over Thanksgiving," said Capellas. "So for all those people who ask, 'How was your Thanksgiving?', it was just fine, thank you. "Looking at the fourth quarter, our inventory positions are fine. So far, demand is on target. There is no change in guidance from us. We're on target for what we said we were going to do." Compaq shares have fallen recently along with other technology stocks, as companies such as Intel Corp. (INTC), Apple Computer Corp. (AAPL) and Gateway have lowered earnings expectations. But Capellas expressed cautious optimism for his company looking forward. "The glass, I do believe, is half full," said Capellas. "Christmas will indeed come." Anne Brady, Dow Jones Newswires; 602-258-2003; anne.brady@dowjones.com (END) DOW JONES NEWS 12-01-00 11:56 AM Copyright 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

To: rudedog who wrote (87337)	12/13/2000 11:16:36 AM
From: Kenya AA	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 97611

From Briefing.com .... 09:25 ET ****** Compaq (CPQ) 20.77: And another one bites the dust... After the close yesterday, Compaq became the latest PC-related company to warn of an earnings shortfall for Q4. Like the others, Compaq tied the miss to "general softness" in U.S. consumer sales, but it also made note of weaker than expected results in the small and medium business and dot-com markets. As a result, Compaq expects revenues to be between $11.2 bln and $11.4 bln, which is 8-10% below the guidance the company provided on its Q3 earnings conference call. Similarly, earnings won't meet Compaq's original projection of $0.37 either. Investors will recall that that projection was actually a warning, too, as the Q4 consensus at the time of the Q3 conference call was $0.41. Compaq is now guiding Q4 EPS estimates to a range of $0.28-$0.30 and it is anticipating 25% EPS growth in FY01 over the revised FY00 estimate. That suggests 2001 EPS of $1.20-$1.22 which, of course, is shy of the current First Call consensus of $1.44. On its conference call last night, Compaq noted that the Q4 sales shortfall was spread evenly among consumer PCs, commercial PCs, and low-end servers. In addition, Compaq said it has started to see increased pricing competition in the corporate desktop space. Such observations provide yet another reminder that it is a good time to be in the market for a new PC, but it's not necessarily a good time to be a manufacturer of PCs as excess inventory and a maturing market have taken away pricing power. As for Compaq, its channel inventories for commercial products is at planned levels of four weeks and it is just under seven weeks for consumer products. When Apple Computer (AAPL 15 3/8) warned on December 5, its channel inventories stood at 11 weeks. The extent to which Compaq's warning impacts its stock price has yet to be determined, but to say that the market is surprised by the warning would be an overstatement. Since Nov. 3, CPQ is down 33%. When trading begins it should fall a little further, but given the stock's recent decline and the market's cognizance of a weak PC environment, we expect the impact from the earnings warning to be relatively limited. Even so, the expectations for its stock have been lowered. After trading in a range of 25-35 for most of the year, we expect the floor of that range to serve as the ceiling of a new trading range until the market becomes comfortable again with the macro-economic backdrop and the inventory levels in the PC industry.-- Patrick J. O'Hare, Briefing.com