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Technology Stocks : Semi Equipment Analysis -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: StanX Long who wrote (8659)	2/18/2003 10:07:29 PM
From: StanX Long	Respond to of 95780

Worldwide PC Shipments Seen Rising Slightly Tue Feb 18, 3:45 PM ET Add Technology - Reuters to My Yahoo! news.yahoo.com SAN JOSE, Calif. (Reuters) - Worldwide personal computer shipments are expected to rise only 4.8 percent in the first quarter from an already weak year-earlier period due to uncertainty over the economic recovery and possible war with Iraq, a market research firm said on Tuesday. A pick-up in worldwide PC shipments is expected by the end of 2003, pushing shipments up 7.9 percent from a year earlier to 138.7 million units, according to technology market research firm Gartner Dataquest. Personal computer sales have been in a slump for more than two years due to the economic downturn as corporations have focused on profits and cut back on technology spending. Shipments could grow much more slowly in both the first quarter and 2003, however, depending on the outcome of the U.S.-Iraq confrontation, said George Shiffler, an analyst for San Jose, California-based Gartner. In the first quarter, Shiffler said Gartner's growth expectations for PC shipments range from 1 percent to 6 percent. For the year, the range is 1 percent to 12.2 percent. "I want to emphasize the uncertainty here," Shiffler told Reuters. The PC industry is also suffering from the lack of the ever-elusive "killer application" that would ignite sales of new and replacement units, Shiffler said. And as companies cut headcount, they are reusing PCs more than in the past. Shiffler said Gartner expects to see companies replace personal computers during the fourth quarter of 2003. If companies don't replace PCs this year, they will likely do so the following year, he said. For 2004, he currently sees PC shipments rising 11.3 to 12.5 percent from 2003. Leading makers of PCs include Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE:HPQ - news), the world's largest PC maker; Dell Computer Corp. (NasdaqNM:DELL - news); Gateway Inc. (NYSE:GTW - news); and International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM - news).