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

To: JakeStraw who wrote (15970)	2/18/2004 10:15:37 PM
From: Fred Levine	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 17183

Reuters EMC Sees Tech Spending Up, Backs Outlook Wednesday February 18, 9:28 pm ET HOPKINTON, Mass. (Reuters) - EMC Corp. (NYSE:EMC - News) Chief Executive Joseph Tucci on Wednesday backed the data storage company's previous outlook for 2004 earnings and revenue, saying that corporate spending on technology is improving. "We absolutely saw more deals of size in Q3 and Q4 and I would expect that to continue, so the enterprise business is definitely starting to come back," Tucci said in an interview at company headquarters in Hopkinton, Massachusetts. The company said in January when it reported fourth-quarter earnings that it expected revenue to grow 25 percent in 2004 or to just above $7.8 billion. At that time, Chief Financial Officer Bill Tewber said he expected earnings based on generally accepted accounting principles in the range of 34 cents per share. "I'll reiterate that for the year," Tucci said. He declined to comment on the company's current quarter. EMC sells data storage hardware, services and software. In the past year the company has reversed a string of losses that began as customers feeling an economic pinch cut back on buying new technology, and as prices of storage systems dropped amid sharp competition. Investors are once again, however, projecting that storage will grow faster than the rest of the technology industry and EMC's shares have risen accordingly. In 2003 EMC shares gained 110 percent while the broader American Stock Exchange Computer Hardware Index (AMEX:^HWI - News) rose 40 percent. Tucci said that EMC is being rewarded for being in a faster-growing business. He expects the storage industry to grow 5 percent to 6 percent in 2004 while the broader technology market rises 3 percent to 4 percent. "I think the world is betting that the economy is not on a rocket ship, but that it is on slow but believable growth over the next couple of years and (investors) are looking at who is situated best to capitalize on that growth, and they are giving those companies a little extra," he said. EMC made three large software acquisitions in the last year: Legato Systems, Documentum and VMware but Tucci said EMC is not back in the market for more software companies. "I'm not looking at anything actively," he said. fred