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

To: Elwood P. Dowd who wrote (88723)	1/9/2001 7:00:38 AM
From: hlpinout	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 97611

January 9, 2001 Tech Center Dell's Earnings Estimates Are Cut On Fears About Industry Outlook By GARY MCWILLIAMS Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL Analysts are trimming fourth-quarter and fiscal 2002 earnings estimates for Dell Computer Corp., convinced the once fast-growing company can't outrun the industry's slowdown and that Dell will have to reduce its earnings outlook yet again. Andrew J. Neff, a Bear Stearns & Co. analyst, slashed his earnings estimate for Dell's fiscal fourth quarter ending Feb. 2 to 21 cents a share from 26 cents, and chopped his estimate for the next fiscal year by 15 cents, to 90 cents a share. He said the move was spurred by "weak industry demand and aggressive industry pricing." In a report to clients, Mr. Neff said the weaker profit outlook reflects "lower demand in the U.S. and Asia" and a build-up of rivals' unsold personal computers, which could lead to discounting. Mr. Neff's estimates are now the lowest on Wall Street for the two periods, according to First Call/Thomson Financial. In response, Dell's shares slid as much as 6% to $17.69, then rebounded to $19.13 at 4 p.m. in Nasdaq Stock Market trading Monday, up 13 cents, but well off a 52-week high of $59.69. Dell, which is scheduled to report results Feb. 15, said in November that it was comfortable with Wall Street expectations for fourth-quarter profit of 26 cents a share. A spokesman for the Round Rock, Texas, company declined to comment on the revisions. The market's drop and reversal underscores the worries about the spread of weak home-PC sales to the corporate PC market. The slowdown originally hit consumer-oriented companies Apple Computer Inc., Gateway Inc., and Micron Electronics Inc. More recently, Compaq Computer Corp. said its PC sales to small businesses slowed (see article). Wall Street also continues to raise questions about Dell's ability to translate falling component prices into a price advantage that can grab market share from rivals Compaq and Hewlett-Packard Co. "Dell has been very aggressive on pricing. Memory has come down and it has taken immediate action," said USB Warburg LLC analyst Don Young. "But this time, Dell hasn't been able to gain any advantage." Mr. Young last week lowered estimates for Dell's fiscal fourth quarter to 24 cents a share from 25 cents, the fourth time since August that he lowered the final-quarter estimate. He also cut his fiscal 2002 estimate to $1.10 from $1.15 a share. Lehman Brothers analyst Daniel Niles started the round of estimate-trimming, cutting his fourth-quarter estimate a penny to 25 cents and shaving 10 cents off the 2002 fiscal year estimate. He said he was concerned about corporate spending and said rising PC inventories at Dell rivals would hurt its profits. Charles R. Wolf, analyst at Needham & Co., who last week initiated coverage on Dell with a hold, said the deceleration in PC growth rates caught up with Dell. "Dell's problem is they got big. It can't grow fast in an industry that's not growing fast."

To: Elwood P. Dowd who wrote (88723)	1/9/2001 7:10:04 AM
From: hlpinout	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 97611

January 8, 2001 5:11pm The Stuff You Want Computer Shopper zdii.com Compaq Computer Baby Beamer Raising (or should we say lowering?) the bar on portability for projectors is Compaq’’s $4,999 MP2800, the world’’s smallest model. Tipping the scales at barely 3 pounds and standing only 9 inches tall, the MP2800 pumps out an incredible 900 ANSI lumens of brightness and a tight XGA native resolution. The projector ships with its own full-featured remote control, complete with built-in laser pointer. A multimedia module snaps onto the rear, adding cool connectivity options like an 8-watt single-speaker audio system, and support for DVD players and VCRs. mstock.