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Technology Stocks : Dell Technologies Inc. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: stock bull who wrote (49446)	7/1/1998 11:57:00 AM
From: D.J.Smyth	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 176387

<<The larger Dell gets, the greater the risk for the company to stumble. If this happens, good bye Dell. The p/e will be "adjusted" by the Street to be in the area of 20 to 15, or less.>> i'll remind you of this in eight months. seems to me the larger that Dell gets the less likely it has of stumbling as it continues to soak up market share.

To: stock bull who wrote (49446)	7/1/1998 12:02:00 PM
From: SecularBull	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 176387

Stock Bull, I thought your name meant you were Bullish, not full of it. Emulation of the direct model is possible, but not until the competition decides to move to direct marketing. Until that time, they will be bogged down by the inefficiencies of their indirect models. This will allow DELL to maintain a very significant operational/financial advantage for the next couple of years, to be sure. I'm not blind to the pitfalls, but please get real. If you cut through the BS and look at the numbers, DELL is doing better and better each and every quarter. It's not that hard to see. Declining ASPs are not as big of a problem as they are being painted to be. Margins are still being maintained, and DELL's competitive advantage gives it the upper hand to preempt a significant price war. BTW, there is no price war going on. It's CPQ, et al, purging the sewage from their distribution channels. They can't afford a prolonged war, and won't wage it. The direct model has been, and will continue to win. They better wise up, and get cracking. Regards, LoD

To: stock bull who wrote (49446)	7/1/1998 12:15:00 PM
From: T L Comiskey	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 176387

RE:...."So what does Dell then have left "?....they have Michael Dell....... enough said......!

To: stock bull who wrote (49446)	7/1/1998 12:23:00 PM
From: Chuzzlewit	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 176387

Stock bull, The model can be copied by other box makers. I used to believe that. Then I watched a succession of box makers attempt to do that and fail. I suspect that a significant part of the reason has to do with their reliance on channels. To emulate Dell they must jettison distribution channels, but if they do that they will lose significant sales (at least over the short run). The other part of the equation is manufacturing efficiency, which requires maintaining raw material and component inventories at very low levels. But companies like Compaq obtained their cost edge by buying in quantity. So copying Dell will require a major re-engineering of these companies. And inevitably, such shifts will result in at least a temporary loss of sales and an increase in costs. Since these outcomes are unacceptable to managements, they have instead opted to emulate Dell piecemeal. I think the recent financial results of CPQ, HWP and IBM speak for themselves. TTFN, CTC