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Technology Stocks : EMC How high can it go? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Proud_Infidel who wrote (13924)	3/11/2002 11:22:33 AM
From: Gottfried	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 17183

EMC Corp. Price Target Cut at Banc of America By Sybil Carlson Princeton, New Jersey, March 11 (Bloomberg Data) -- EMC Corporation (EMC US) was maintained ``buy'' by analyst Shaw Wu at Banc of America. The 12-month target price was cut to $17.00 per share from $20.00 per share. quote.bloomberg.com Gottfried

To: Proud_Infidel who wrote (13924)	3/12/2002 11:31:22 AM
From: Fred Levine	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 17183

Tuesday March 12, 12:28 am Eastern Time Analysts Cut EMC's 1st-Quarter Outlook Amid Slow Sales of Data Storage Systems Wall Street analysts trimmed first-quarter revenue and profit estimates for EMC Corp., saying sales of data-storage systems appear to be off to a slower start than anticipated, Tuesday's Wall Street Journal reported. With three weeks remaining in the period, several analysts see signs that don't bode well for EMC (EMC), the No. 1 seller of storage devices to corporate and other enterprise customers. Among the reasons cited for their estimate reductions: deferred technology spending by customers and intense levels of competition in the sector, until recently one of the sweet spots of the computer industry. Officials declined to discuss specific forecasts, but EMC spokesman Michael Gallant said spending is guarded. "Customers continued to keep their [ information technology] budgets close to the vest," he said. Since mid-2001, when it became apparent to Wall Street that last year's lofty $12 billion sales goal wouldn't be met, EMC officials have said the company would rebound with corporate spending. But even as such spending appears to be firming, competitive pressure on EMC from Hitachi Ltd., International Business Machines Corp. and others continues. Shaw Wu, an analyst at Banc of America Securities, cut his first-quarter revenue forecast by $100 million, to $1.3 billion, and trimmed his earnings outlook by a penny a share, settling on a five-cent loss. Harry Blount, an analyst at Lehman Brothers, last week revised his prediction to a loss of six cents a share, instead of four cents, on revenue of $1.28 billion, down $120 million from his previous estimate. Laura Conigliaro, a Goldman Sachs analyst who was one of the first to point to a gloomier EMC outlook, trimmed her revenue number by $50 million, to $1.35 billion for the quarter. Ms. Conigliaro stuck with her bottom-line view of a four-cent loss for the quarter, but cut her estimate for the year to a three- cent loss, from break-even. Ms. Conigliaro predicts the Hopkinton, Mass. , developer of data-storage products would be forced to reduce costs beyond current measures. A Thomson Financial/First Call survey of analysts pegs the consensus on EMC's revenue at $1.39 billion for the quarter, down from $2.34 billion in the year- earlier period; and a loss of four cents a share, compared with net income of 18 cents. EMC shares were up 44 cents each, or 3.9%, at $11.75 at 4 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares are down 74% from their 52-week high of $45.96, reached April 20 . Mr. Wu said storage-equipment buyers are shying away from "forklift upgrades," the big sales that tend to favor EMC and Hitachi, and turning to smaller equipment purchases from rivals Compaq Computer (NYSE: CPQ - news) Corp. and Network Appliance (NasdaqNM: NTAP - news) Inc. IBM has also been able to gain some business at EMC's expense by pitching savings through across-the-board technology deals to thrifty customers. In January, Hitachi's data-storage unit cut its revenue forecast for the year ending March 31 to $2 billion from $2.5 billion. Copyright (c) 2002 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. fred