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Technology Stocks : Compaq -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: D. Swiss who wrote (33467)	9/25/1998 6:05:00 PM
From: rudedog	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 97611

Drew - I really do appreciate your enthusiasm. I am also enthusiastic about the performance of Dell as an investment. But you need to ground your discussion in a little reality. Remember. Dell was working from a base of zero for server sales in 1996. So even very small numbers of servers show up as big percentages. What makes you think that Dell's current growth rate is 200%? What data backs that up? How much of Dell's business does that represent? What share of the server market did Dell have last year, and what is it now? As far as your statement about other players standing still I mean that while Dell was going from $3B to $12B, CPQ was going from $12B to $37B. Dell is not much closer to catching CPQ than they were 3 years ago. I am not sure what you mean by entry into the high margin business is expensive if Dell is already in this business I said High end server business. Dell is not in this business. They have no high end products. They have gotten into midrange enterprise in the last year, and are still a small player even there. They don't have the products or infrastructure to get into the high end. As far as your comparison to HP, I cannot understand why you would suggest Dell cannot compete with HP. I would say the reverse is true HP did $36B in computer and related products last year. Dell can only compete with the low end of HP's line, they have no products which compete with HP's 9000 series, HP's dominant printer business, or a range of other HP products. Dell can compete with HP's PC business, but that's not enough to beat HP. Lastly, if you think Dell's outlook is not that bright, why are you holding 48,000 shares?? What a question. I assume you've checked Dell's share price recently... I think that speaks for itself as to why I am continuing to hold Dell. I think Dell's outlook is quite bright. I expect my investment to do well for a long time into the future, maybe years. I don't think Dell has to beat HP, IBM or CPQ to be a great money machine. You are making the typical Dellhead argument of confusing who beats who with investment strategy. Take my word for it, Dell will never be the #1 computer company, but they may well remain the #1 company to invest in...