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

To: Night Writer who wrote (95177)	2/8/2002 4:36:07 PM
From: MeDroogies	Respond to of 97611

Cycles tend to repeat. I wouldn't be surprised if that little dip resembles the one in the previous run up.

To: Night Writer who wrote (95177)	2/10/2002 1:21:16 PM
From: Elwood P. Dowd	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 97611

uThe week ahead: Earnings from HP, Applied By Sam Ames Staff Writer, CNET News.com February 10, 2002, 6:00 AM PT Following are some of the notable tech-related events scheduled for the week of Feb. 11 through Feb. 15. Earnings season continues as Hewlett-Packard and Applied Materials are scheduled to report this week Chip equipment maker Applied Materials steps into the financial confession booth on Tuesday. Analysts surveyed by First Call expect the company to post a loss of 1 cent a share for its first fiscal quarter vs. a profit of 50 cents a share for the same quarter a year ago. HP will announce earnings on Wednesday. Wall Street expects the business and consumer electronics maker to post a profit of 25 cents a share for its first fiscal quarter compared with a profit of 41 cents last year. Investors will get a sense of the health of the cable TV industry as Cox Communications, Cablevision Systems and Charter Communications announce earnings. Aside from earnings, data on consumer behavior will catch Wall Street's attention. Retail sales figures from the Department of Commerce will be released on Wednesday and will give economists a sense of consumer spending, which is the engine that powers the U.S. economy. Finally, the University of Michigan will release Friday its index that tracks consumer sentiment, the outlook of U.S. shoppers and their willingness to spend. The information was gathered from First Call, Hoover's Online, CCBN's StreetEvents and CNET Investor. Other events scheduled this week: Tech Events Sunday, Feb. 10 DEMO 2002 takes place at the Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs in Phoenix, Feb. 10 to Feb. 12. The event will introduce 65 new technology products and services. Monday, Feb. 11 Apple Computer will hold a conference to highlight its QuickTime Internet media software at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif., Feb. 11 to Feb. 14. Senior Apple executives will make keynote speeches. Research firm The Yankee Group will host the Connected Consumer Summit at the Mark Hopkins Inter-Continental Hotel in San Francisco, Feb. 11 to Feb. 12. The summit will focus on home-networking technology. Senior executives from Palm, HP, Texas Instruments and RealNetworks will make presentations, along with The Yankee Group analysts. BSDCon kicks off at the Cathedral Hill Hotel in San Francisco, Feb. 11 to Feb. 14. The event is for advocates of the BSD version of Unix and features research presentations, tutorials and speeches. Technology consulting firm Answerthink and India-based software services company HCL Technologies will host a conference call on Feb. 11 at 5:30 a.m. PST to discuss their newly formed offshore development venture. There will be a one-day court hearing on Feb. 11 in White Plains, N.Y., concerning a patent dispute over hyperlink technology between British Telecommunications and Internet service provider Prodigy Communications. Microsoft will host VSLive at the Marriott Hotel and Palace Hotel in San Francisco, Feb. 11 to Feb. 16. The gathering is for developers of Visual Studio.Net, Microsoft's platform for developing applications for its next-generation Internet services, and features a keynote presentation by Chairman Bill Gates. Tuesday, Feb. 12 Wired Capital and the Gathering of Angels will debut their national Entrepreneurial Speaker Series in San Francisco on Feb. 12 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. PST at the Hyatt Regency Embarcadero. The invitation-only event is geared toward angel investors, institutional investors, venture capitalists, finance professionals and broker dealers and features presentations from promising companies. U.S. Senators will hold a briefing on biometrics and the role technology plays in homeland security on Feb. 12 in reaction to heightened concern over security after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11. Biometrics is a controversial technology that makes it possible to identify people by reading their facial features. Wednesday, Feb. 13 DCI will host a series of conferences on customer service at McCormick Place in Chicago, Feb. 13 to Feb. 15. Topics covered include practices and technologies that deal with customer relationship management, customer information gathering and communications. Friday, Feb. 15 CodeCon 2002 takes place at the DNA Lounge in San Francisco, Feb. 15 to Feb. 17. The event will provide a forum for open-source programmers and hackers to meet and show off their latest programs. Earnings Monday, Feb. 11 Charter Communications serves about 7 million Internet and cable TV subscribers in 40 U.S. states. Per-share consensus estimate for the fourth quarter: loss of $1.08. Jupiter Media Metrix researches trends in Internet use. Per-share estimate from one analyst for the fourth quarter: loss of $1.38. Tuesday, Feb. 12 Applied Materials makes manufacturing equipment for chipmakers. Per-share consensus estimate for the first fiscal quarter: loss of 1 cent. Cox Communications provides cable TV, Internet and phone service to 6.2 million customers. Per-share consensus estimate for the fourth quarter: loss of 18 cents. Perot Systems provides technology and consulting services to large businesses. Per-share consensus estimate for the fourth quarter: profit of 17 cents. Network Appliance makes equipment for computer data storage networks. Per-share consensus estimate for the third fiscal quarter: profit of 2 cents. Sycamore Networks makes optical equipment for telecommunications carriers. Per-share consensus estimate for the second fiscal quarter: loss of 12 cents. Wednesday, Feb. 13 Brocade Communications Systems makes switches and software for computer data storage networks. Per-share consensus estimate for the first fiscal quarter: profit of 5 cents. HP is a major maker of computers, printers and other electronics. Per-share consensus estimate for the first fiscal quarter: profit of 25 cents. Intuit makes personal finance software like TurboTax and Quicken. Per-share consensus estimate for the second fiscal quarter: profit of 57 cents. Thursday, Feb. 14 Analog Devices makes chips for wireless communications gear and PC products. Per-share consensus estimate for the first fiscal quarter: profit of 11 cents. Cablevision Systems provides cable TV service to 3 million subscribers in and around New York City. Per-share consensus estimate for the fourth quarter: loss of $1.12. Dell Computer is a direct seller of made-to-order PCs. Per-share consensus estimate for the fourth fiscal quarter: profit of 17 cents. Ingram Micro is a distributor of technology products and services. Per-share consensus estimate for the fourth quarter: profit of 8 cents. Liquid Audio makes online music software and services that let consumers download music off the Web. Per-share estimate from one analyst for the fourth quarter: loss of 26 cents. Nvidia makes graphics chips for PCs. Per-share consensus estimate for the fourth fiscal quarter: profit of 34 cents. Economic Reports Wednesday, Feb. 13 Retail Sales for the month of January are expected to fall 0.2 percent compared with December's drop of 0.1 percent as reported by the Commerce Department. Excluding automobile sales, Wall Street expects retail sales to climb 0.2 percent vs. the previous month's decrease of 0.1 percent. Thursday, Feb. 14 Initial Claims refers to the number of people who filed for unemployment benefits each week as reported by the Department of Labor. Claims will be reported for the week ending Feb. 9. Business Inventories represents the percentage change of the amount of goods in inventory in the United States as reported by the Department of Commerce. Economists predict inventories will fall 0.5 percent in December vs. a 1 percent decrease in November. Friday, Feb. 15 The Producer Price Index is expected to rise 0.2 percent in January from last month's decline of 0.7 percent. The core PPI, which excludes food and energy prices, is expected to climb 0.1 percent from a slide of 0.1 percent. This Labor Department index tracks the cost of what manufacturers pay for raw goods to make products. Industrial Production represents the monthly percentage change in industrial output as measured by the Federal Reserve. The number measures the physical quantity of items produced, unlike sales value which combines quantity and price. Wall Street expects no change for January vs. the previous month's fall of 0.1 percent. The monthly Capacity Utilization report from the Federal Reserve indicates the percentage of industrial capacity in use. Analysts expect this measurement of industrial activity to fall to 74.3 percent in January from the previous month's 74.4 percent. The Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index is a measure of consumer confidence as reported monthly by the University of Michigan. Experts expect preliminary numbers for February to show an increase to 94.3 from 93 during the previous month.

To: Night Writer who wrote (95177)	2/11/2002 9:36:10 AM
From: Elwood P. Dowd	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 97611

Merrill on DELL. highlites by: skeptically 02/11/02 09:29 am Msg: 272921 of 272923 FlashNote United States PC Hardware 8 February 2002 Steven M. Fortuna First Vice President Michael Hillmeyer Vice President Dell Computer Corp Continue to Expect Sequentially Down April Quarter STRONG BUY Long Term STRONG BUY Reason for Report: Company Update DELL; $25.88; C-1-1-9 Volatility Risk: Above Average Reported EPS (Jan): 2001A $0.84; 2002E $0.65; 2003E $0.75 • Dell is scheduled to report its January quarter (4Q02) earnings on Feb 14. Our January quarter forecast calls for revenue of $8.0 billion and EPS of $0.17, inline with Dell’s recent positive pre-announcement. • Our view is that Dell’s Q4 was strong due to a solid consumer and some 9/11 one-time benefits. We are not expecting this strength to carry over into 1Q02 or 1H02. We are also reiterating our view that we think there is risk in the PC sector in the first quarter of 2002 as well as for the entire first half. • Our thoughts on Dell’s outlook for the April quarter (1Q03) have not changed. We think that when the company provides its outlook for the April quarter, there is a high likelihood it will forecast sequentially down revenue. Indeed, we think April revenue could be down about $300-$400 million from January's $8 billion. We are comfortable with our 1Q03 EPS estimate of $0.16. We would note that Dell has not previously published a forecast for the April quarter. • We are therefore maintaining our somewhat conservative stance with respect to revenue and EPS for Dell in the April quarter. We expect revenue to come in at $7.6 billion (down 5.0% Q/Q and down 5.3% yr/yr) with EPS of $0.16. We believe the Street is expecting revenue closer to $7.8 billion and the current consensus EPS estimate is $0.17. • On a longer-term basis, we continue to believe that the Dell model inherently has double digit operating margin potential driven both by a richer mix of enterprise products as well as a better economic environment. • We are maintaining our strong Buy rating on Dell shares. Our 12-month price objective of $35 is 47x our FY2003 EPS forecast of $0.75.