Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Applied Materials No-Politics Thread (AMAT) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: willcousa who wrote (14834)	5/9/2005 9:26:54 AM
From: willcousa	Respond to of 25522

We have had some very strange events that color recent history. I don't know how to sort them all out but have this nagging suspicion that they hold the key to determining where we are at this juncture. The Y2K mess caused a trememdous surge in corporate spending on tech. Either as a result of or in conjunction with that was the stock market bubble. That bubble had to burst and it was not going to be pretty but 9/11 not only accentuated the burst but pushed the recovery out by years now. It cast a pall of doom that has been very tough on the economy and the markets. It is a mistake to lump the economy and the stock market together as we know the market anticipates the economy and is sometimes (maybe often?) wrong. On top of this is a basic trend that has been repeated in steel, autos and such and that is the trend toward oligopoly. I just can't help feeling that we are at a tipping point in semi production and the equipment that enables it. Perhaps this will first be reflected in some tiering effect where companies like intel are just in a different dimension than the rest of the world. FWIW, Will

To: willcousa who wrote (14834)	5/9/2005 10:54:30 AM
From: Proud_Infidel	Respond to of 25522

Consolidation May Drive Large-Cap Tech Outperformance 05.09.05, 10:38 AM ET Merrill Lynch held a chief information officers panel that indicated modest yearly spending, investment in new technologies and good news for large vendors, such as IBM (nyse: IBM - news - people ), Oracle (nasdaq: ORCL - news - people ), Cisco Systems (nasdaq: CSCO - news - people ), Dell (nasdaq: DELL - news - people ), Red Hat (nasdaq: RHAT - news - people ), SAP (nyse: SAP - news - people ) and Tibco (nasdaq: TIBX - news - people ). Looking at spending, the research outfit said, "the theme is doing more with about the same dollars. There is no killer app, and aggressive vendor pricing allows users to stretch spending dollars." New technologies being considered are Voice-over-IP, mobile devices, and security and open source software. As for large vendors, Merrill sees consolidation and price as drivers for success: "Users are consolidating purchases with fewer vendors for simplification. This trend combined with the relative cheapness of large-cap tech could result in big stocks finally outperforming, in our view." The panel also commented on the position of Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ). "To the question of whether Linux or a Google (nasdaq: GOOG - news - people ) offering could displace Microsoft on the desktop, CIOs weren't inclined to upset their infrastructure." According to Merrill, CIOs saw Microsoft more susceptible in server software.