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

To: ben. who wrote (67793)	9/27/1998 3:55:00 PM
From: rudedog	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 176387

Ben - I see you have come full circle I think I am just standing in one place watching others run around the circle. I don't think CPQ is dead money. I don't think Dell will become a larger computer company than CPQ, IBM or HP. I don't think that is bad news for Dell. I think Dell is a good investment and I'm not selling Dell. I think CPQ is a good investment and I'm not selling CPQ. I believe CPQ will hit 60 before Dell hits 100, but I think Dell will hit 100 at some point. Understanding and discussing Dell's strong points does not mean any change in my opinions about CPQ. Likewise discussing the things that Dell does not do well, or things Dell should not do at all, does not mean that I don't think Dell is a good investment. my contention that CPQ is currently dead money and the management and marketing model is flawed. Sorry ben, I don't agree with this at all. As I have pointed out several times recently, Dell is in many ways following in CPQ's footsteps. I have CPQ stock that I bought at less than $2, split adjusted. The first few years that I held CPQ, I saw my investment double, and double again, and double yet again. In 1995, I felt the same way about CPQ that Dellheads (myself included) currently feel about Dell - what a great ride! Every time I looked, the stock was up 5 or 10%! And the stock has more than doubled again since that time. Today CPQ is within 15% of their all-time high - the stock has not exactly tanked. I watched as CPQ went through the transition that Dell is now approaching. CPQ management has not been perfect in executing the move from boxmaker to full-range IT provider, just better than anyone else in the business so far. Dell may do better, but they have yet to be tested - at the moment they are still just a great boxmaker. I believe that Dell will also execute this transition successfully, but not in the same way CPQ did. We are talking about the two best companies in the computer business. Anybody who bets against either of these companies is just not looking at the facts. Welcome to reality, after all, we are in this for the money My reality on Dell is that an investment of about $900K in December of 97 is now worth over $3M. That sure beats leaving it in the bank. But the reason I had that money to invest in '97 is that I invested $250K in CPQ in 1992 (pretty much my net worth at the time). I sold less than 20% of that holding to buy the Dell last year. I still hold most of the rest of my original CPQ shares, plus some additional CPQ I have purchased over the years. I have little fear of going underwater on that holding. Here's a little more reality. A friend of mine bought CPQ at about the same time I did in '92. Although CPQ doubled between July and December, there was this little computer company in Austin that had also shown great performance. He sold CPQ and bought Dell in January of 93. Dell proceeded to go in the toilet. Two and a half years later, he was still underwater on his Dell investment. CPQ had more than tripled in price over the same interval. He didn't hold Dell after '95, if he had, maybe he would have finally come out OK. But he had all of the same comments about Dell that I see on the CPQ thread - 'this pig, this dog, why did I sink my money into this barking animal Dell, I should never have sold CPQ...' So welcome to reality yourself, ben. Good luck in your investments.