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

To: Andy Yamaguchi who wrote (59204)	8/18/1998 6:09:00 PM
From: Foad	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 176387

WSJ says Dell did not beat whisper numbers: August 18, 1998 Dell Turns In Strong Results For Yet Another Fiscal Period An INTERACTIVE JOURNAL News Roundup Dell Computer Corp. reported a 62% climb in net income and a 54% gain in revenue late Tuesday. The stronger-than-expected results continued the tremendous sales and profit growth that have pushed Dell's stock to lofty levels and made it the envy of the personal-computer industry. For the second fiscal quarter ended Aug. 2, the Round Rock, Texas PC maker reported net income of $346 million, or 50 cents a diluted share, compared with $214 million, or 29 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter. That topped the consensus estimate of analysts surveyed by First Call for net income of 46 cents a share. Revenue, meanwhile, climbed to $4.33 billion from $2.81 billion in the year-ago quarter. Company Profile: Dell Computer Dell also announced a 2-for-1 stock split -- its second this year -- payable Sept. 4 to shareholders of record as of Aug. 28. In trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market Tuesday, shares of Dell fell $1 to $109.5625. The earnings report was released after the close of markets Tuesday. Dell, which sells directly to customers and thus keeps little inventory, has capitalized on the falling prices of PC components like chips and disk drives. The company has attributed the decline in average selling prices for PCs to lower prices for these computer parts. The company's results, while impressive yet again, failed to beat whisper numbers making the rounds on Wall Street. Those numbers called for per-share net income in the range of 50 cents to 52 cents. Such strong results are nothing new for Dell: The company also blew by its competitors in the first quarter, with revenue advancing 52%. International Business Machines Corp., Compaq Computer Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co. have all tried to streamline themselves to match Dell's build-to-order and direct-selling efficiencies. "Our sustained growth and solid performance across all segments and regions continue to underscore the strength and efficiencies of our direct-business model," said Michael Dell, chairman and chief executive officer. "We believe that our performance positions us as No. 1 in profitability, revenue growth and unit growth among major systems companies world-wide." Dell's numbers remained impressive as one moved down the balance sheet: The company said second-quarter gross margin rose to 22.7% from 22.2% a year ago, while operating expenses were 11.6%, the same level as in the year-ago quarter. The company's Americas revenues grew 50% to nearly $3 billion, reflecting strong demand from enterprise and individual customers. European revenues grew by 73%, while revenues in the Asia-Pacific region grew 34% to $280 million. Mr. Dell said that "moving into the second half of the year, key industry conditions including demand, component cost declines and pricing remain healthy, and consolidation continues to occur around the leading systems companies. We believe we are well-positioned to capitalize on these conditions to further our growing market leadership." Dell said it generated $641 million in cash from operations in the second quarter, and closed the quarter with cash and marketable securities of more than $2.6 billion.