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

To: JDN who wrote (14119)	4/19/2002 8:41:02 AM
From: John Carragher	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 17183

EMC Posted Loss of $77 Million In First Quarter on Low Revenue By WILLIAM M. BULKELEY Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL EMC Corp. swung to a $77 million first-quarter loss on sharply lower revenues that indicated tough business conditions in the data-storage sector of the computer market. Executives of EMC, Hopkinton, Mass., forecast continued losses in the current quarter and a slow sales upturn leading to profitability by the fourth quarter of this year. "We expect a modest pickup -- nothing great," said Joseph Tucci, chief executive officer. The leading computer storage vendor's loss was equal to three cents a share, compared with net income of $399 million or 18 cents a share in the year-earlier quarter. Revenue fell 44% to $1.3 billion from $2.34 billion. EMC had originally expected revenue for the quarter to top $1.4 billion, but analysts had cut forecasts during the quarter. The latest quarter's figures include a $28 million pretax gain from the reversal of part of a previous charge, which added one cent a share to the bottom line. Analysts had been expecting a loss of five cents per share, excluding the gain, according to Thomson Financial/First Call. EMC shares rose 60 cents to $11 in 4 p.m. composite trading Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange. "They're doing an awfully good job managing costs," said Steven Milunovich, an analyst with Merrill Lynch. He said he is reducing EMC's expected loss for the year to three cents a share from four cents and projecting a small profit in the fourth quarter. EMC said it had reduced quarterly costs by $210 million, accelerating a plan that had called for cuts of $200 million per quarter by midyear. Mr. Tucci said that the company is continuing to wring out costs to bring the break-even point to quarterly revenue of $1.5 billion. "If we get that in Q3, we'd be profitable," he said. In the wake of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, EMC said it is still seeing a lot of customer interest in building up computer infrastructure to make sure that businesses can continue operating. But Mr. Tucci said companies are finding that "continuity is very complex" and they are spending time to develop broad plans rather than rushing to buy EMC's multimillion-dollar Symmetrix storage systems as places to back up data. "The good news is we're at the table," Mr. Tucci said. Write to William M. Bulkeley at bill.bulkeley@wsj.com Updated April 19, 2002

To: JDN who wrote (14119)	4/19/2002 9:42:22 AM
From: VFD	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 17183

*OT* JDN, Thanks for the advice. I have no intention of giving up my health insurance coverage but I will check with my state as you suggested. You said your brother retired at 62. I guess I was wrong in believing that one is eligible for Medicare at 62 which means an additional 3 years before I am eligible.