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Politics : Formerly About Applied Materials -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: StanX Long who wrote (60582)	2/15/2002 2:48:39 AM
From: StanX Long	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70976

Dell Computer's Net Rises 5.1% on Consumer PC Demand (Update3) By Peter J. Brennan quote.bloomberg.com Austin, Texas, Feb. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Dell Computer Corp., the largest personal-computer maker, said fiscal fourth-quarter net income rose 5.1 percent as consumer sales got a lift from new advertising and as founder Michael Dell appeared on the QVC home shopping program. Net income in the period ended Feb. 1 rose to $456 million, or 17 cents a share, from $434 million, or 16 cents, a year earlier, the company said. Sales declined 7 percent to $8.06 billion from $8.67 billion. Michael Dell, the company's chairman and chief executive officer, said corporate sales, one of Dell's strengths, may revive in the second half of 2002. In making the forecast, he backed away from his earlier prediction that they would rebound in the middle year. Unit shipments to U.S. consumers grew 56 percent from the third quarter, the company said. ``They are like the Wal-Marts of the PC industry,'' said Bob Rezaee, a fund manager at Montgomery Asset Management, referring to the biggest discount retailer. Montgomery owns 696,900 Dell shares and manages $8 billion in assets. ``They keep plowing away.'' Dell's performance was solid in generating $1 billion in cash from operations, easily topping rivals like Gateway Inc., Rezaee said. Dell, based in Austin, Texas, said revenue in the fiscal first quarter will fall 3 percent to 5 percent from the fourth quarter, or to $7.65 billion to $7.82 billion, and will earn 16 cents a share. Analysts were expecting earnings of 16 cents on sales of $7.66 billion, the average estimates in a survey by Thomson Financial/First Call. Dell shares fell 53 cents, or 1.9 percent, to $26.81 in regular U.S. trading before the earnings report. The stock has gained 17 percent in the past year. Recovery? Michael Dell had previously predicted a rebound in PC sales by the middle of this year. During a press conference today, he declined to say when sales will recover. He said he expects a ``fairly gentle recovery.''