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

To: Night Writer who wrote (90530)	3/29/2001 7:59:21 PM
From: Captain Jack	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 97611

NW -- the 2nd from last para in this article caught my eye..... Mar 28, 2001 (Winston-Salem Journal - Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News via COMTEX) -- Chief financial officers expect corporate profits to rise an average 10 percent at their companies over the next 12 months, but they say that levels of capital expenditure and employment over the same period are likely to be flat. The one major exception to corporate attempts to cut back on expenses will be in technology spending, the survey added. In a quarterly survey released yesterday by Duke University's Fuqua School of Business and Financial Executives International, chief financial officers at 153 big companies, half of which are manufacturers, predicted 1.6 percent growth in the country's gross domestic product in 2001, down a third from the 2.4 percent they expected in a survey three months ago. Despite recent steep declines in the stock market, however, those surveyed said they expect the S&P 500 to gain 5 percent over the next 12 months. Thirty-one percent of the companies plan to cut jobs this year, with another 20 percent holding employment steady. This is the first time in the five-year history of the survey that the majority of companies polled do not have plans to increase employment. Last quarter, only 13 percent of firms said that they would reduce employment, with 12 percent holding levels constant. "CFOs in our survey are foreseeing a growth recession rather than an economic recession," said John Graham, a finance professor at the Fuqua School of Business and the director of the survey. "They're saying inflation will stay in check due to restraints in pricing, and higher productivity. Also, employees shouldn't expect much of a raise this coming year and getting a new job will not be easy. The good news is that CFOs predict that corporate earnings and the stock market will be in positive territory over the 12 months." Forty-one percent of the companies surveyed plan to cut overtime this year, with another 38 percent holding the line and the remaining 21 percent increasing overtime. Even with a slowing economy, companies will continue to pump money into technology, the survey showed. Two-thirds of those surveyed said they plan to increase technology spending in the next 12 months, relative to last year. "Technology spending is defying gravity," Graham said. "Despite companies' almost across-the-board attempt to control expenses, technology is not an area where they're cutting back." By Jane Seccombe To see more of the Winston-Salem Journal, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go o journalnow.com (c) 2001, Winston-Salem Journal. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business ews. -0-