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

To: Return to Sender who wrote (15388)	5/25/2004 12:38:31 AM
From: Donald Wennerstrom	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 95611

Lot's of PC's coming! cbs.marketwatch.com <<The replacements Predictions on PC sales provide stock opportunities By Thomas Kostigen, CBS.MarketWatch.com Last Update: 9:01 PM ET May 24, 2004 SANTA MONICA, Calif. (CBS.MW) -- More personal computers will be replaced this year and next than in the scramble leading up to Y2K. About 120 million personal computers will be replaced this year, according to The Gartner Group, the Stamford, Conn.-based research outfit, with 140 million more computers likely to be replaced next year. The swap represents a 13.6 percent rise in PC shipments worldwide this year and 9.8 percent in 2005. Aging PCs -- more than 30 percent of which are at least three years old -- and growth in the United States and Asia are responsible for the increase, Gartner says in its PC Forecast Scenarios report for 2004/2005. "Recent economic forecasts anticipate even stronger growth throughout 2004 for the United States, Asia/Pacific and Japan, despite persistently high oil prices," the report says. Indeed, Japan and the Pacific regions are already leading the world in terms of growth, as Morgan Stanley's country indices attest: Japan and the Pacific regions are the best performers. Domestically, the U.S. Department of Commerce is also predicting PC sales will rise. Earlier this year, the Commerce Department issued a report revising upwards its projections for information-technology investment by small and medium sized businesses. All this means computer makers like Dell (DELL: news, chart, profile), Hewlett Packard (HPQ: news, chart, profile), IBM (IBM: news, chart, profile) and Apple (AAPL: news, chart, profile), are poised to rise. The PC sector is turning in good revenue results, up 14.3 percent as an industry this quarter compared to the same period last year. On a capital-appreciation basis, stock prices are up 9.6 percent industrywide, according to data from Reuters. Semiconductor makers, who manufacture computer chips, and even software developers, whose systems run PCs, are also getting a lift from higher sales. In fact, replacement of operating systems is mostly responsible for the PC growth. "Expiring OS support will play a significant role in spurring PC replacement, more so than obsolescing hardware," according to the Gartner report. "About 40 percent of all installed PCS were running older versions of Windows ... at year-end 2003." Intel (INTC: news, chart, profile) and Microsoft (MSFT: news, chart, profile) are introducing new drivers this year. Intel's Celeron M microprocessor and its Dothan chip further enhance computers (like Compaq) that boast Pentium processing. Microsoft was supposed to introduce its XP service-pack upgraded system this month, but has delayed that launch until the third quarter. The system upgrade is designed to further enhance security from viruses, worms and hackers. A delay means IT purchasers will put off buying until late this year or next, giving an additional boost to PC sales then.>> [snip]