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

To: Gottfried who wrote (28672)	2/17/2006 9:46:07 AM
From: Return to Sender	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 95648

From Briefing.com: 8:34AM S&P futures vs fair value: -1.3. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: -1.5. : The recently released January Producer Price Index showed a 0.4% rise in the core rate (which excludes food and energy), above the 0.2% increase that economists had forecasted. Total PPI rose 0.3.%, higher than the expected 0.2% increase. Stock futures have ticked lower upon the market's initial reaction to the data. The market is poised for a modestly lower start. Keep an eye on the yield curve. RtS: investorshub.com; 08:18 am Dell Computer (DELL) 31.96: On the footsteps of a strong quarterly result from rival Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), Dell also reported an upside in earnings, but the overall quality of the quarter shone less bright. Pro forma earnings of 43 cents per share topped estimates by two cents, but the upside was assisted by a lower tax rate and share count. Revenues of $15.2 bln beat consensus estimates of $14.88 bln and the company's guidance, but an extra week added 2-3 points. The upside in earnings wasn't top-line driven as gross margins contracted 80 basis points sequentially to 17.8% - the lowest level in more than a year. With Dell competing on price, the concern is the company will suffer further margin pressure. The bright spot was the strong top line growth, up 9% sequentially and 13% yearly, with broad-based growth across all categories and regions, with desktops being the exception, basically flat year/year. Revenues outside the US jumped 21%, contributing to 43% of overall sales. Unlike HPQ, the guidance left the market wanting more. Dell forecasted Q1 revenue growth of 6-9% to $14.2-$14.6, below the consensus estimate for 10% growth, or $14.7 bln. The company is clearly being conservative, which is prudent as it enters its most difficult quarter of the year. The quarter poses more questions than it answers, with the biggest concern being further margin deterioration. Having said that, the stock remains undervalued, trading at a forward multiple of 17.5x - well below its historical average of 27x. Given the company's superior business model and operating excellence, we think the stock offers a strong risk/reward argument at these levels. --Kimberly DuBord, Briefing.com biz.yahoo.com

To: Gottfried who wrote (28672)	2/17/2006 10:28:41 AM
From: sixty2nds	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 95648

A cut from the linked yahoo post....Ed McKeon (Prudential) joked last month that if the market didn't go up soon there weren't going to be any stocks left because they'd all have been bought out by private equity firms. Every $100 BL or so that is spent on taking public stocks private shrinks the available float on the market. This is occurring at a record pace right now. If you go to the TrimTabs website you can see graphs of record amounts of stock buybacks and privitizations. I think that in a tussle between the fundamentals and the technicals, the fundamentals - although the effect might be delayed - always will win in the end. It's like that in life, why not in stocks? Yogi Berra once said "You'd be surprised how much you'll see if you observe too"...END........My comment....We will know when the new market top is in when the Hedge Funds start IPOing this stuff in 18 months to 2 years! Later, S