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Technology Stocks : DELL: Facts, Stats, News and Analysis -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LWolf who wrote (203)	10/29/1998 9:20:00 PM
From: Mick Mørmøny	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 335

Dell leads satisfaction survey Stephanie Miles CNET NEWS.COM Dell is No. 1 in satisfying corporate information technology managers, according to a new survey, but competitors such as IBM and Compaq continue to improve in such areas as price, hardware reliability, and technical support. Dell took the top spot for customer service in its notebook, server, and desktop divisions this quarter, according to the new survey of corporate buyers from Technology Business Research, with customers giving the computer maker high marks for availability, ease of set-up, reliability, pricing, and volume discounting. Dell is perceived as the best all-around notebook vendor, TBR found. "Dell does on-site service and provides loaner units, which is a plus with notebooks because it's usually executives who use them and can't be without them," said Julie Perron, manager of primary research for TBR. "It's a perception of how Dell handles their customers. If a notebook fails more often, but is taken care of more quickly, the user sees it as a reliable notebook." Customer satisfaction scores Notebooks Q2 Score Q3 Score % Change Compaq---------71.68-----79.09-------10.3 Dell----------------4.05------84.71--------0.8 IBM --------------7.14------82.82--------7.4 Toshiba---------72.79------76.37--------4.9 Desktops Q2 Score Q3 Score % Change Compaq----79.92-----79.96-------0 Dell----------83.91-----86.2-------2.7 Gateway----78.72-----80.03------1.6 H-P----------80.65-----83.35------3.3 IBM----------76.6------82.27------7.4 Source: TBR IBM made the biggest strides in keeping its customers happy last quarter, jumping more than 7 percent in notebooks and desktops and almost 5 percent in servers. IBM's hardware reliability was praised by most of its customers, and its support, including global support and repair time, received higher scores than Dell. Compaq made huge gains in its notebook business, with customers giving the company high marks for support and reliability, a 10 percent increase over the previous quarter. However, Compaq still has a ways to go, the survey indicated. "While Compaq's notebook satisfaction score increased by 10 percent over the previous quarter, customers continue to indicate there are problems with hardware reliability, price performance, cost of ownership, and volume discounting," said the TBR report, problems shared by Toshiba, who was also dinged for poor product availability in its notebook category. "Availability with notebooks tends to be an issue with everyone except for Dell," Perron said. Toshiba was also criticized for its lack of volume pricing. On the Intel-based server front, Dell, Compaq, IBM, and Hewlett-Packard were separated by less than 3 points, TBR found, with all companies scoring almost 84 points.

To: LWolf who wrote (203)	11/24/1998 2:39:00 PM
From: jbn3	Respond to of 335

DELL Insider Trading (24 October 98) from Austin American-Statesman, Saturday Weekly Business Review, page 22, 24 October, 1998 Michael Dell, chairman, sold 4,050,000 shares of common between $62 and $65.69 each on Sept. 24 and now directly and indirectly holds 219,075,019 common. Paul Hirschbiel, director, exercised an option for 15,000 shares of common at $0.76 each on Sept. 15 and sold them at $59.19 each on Sept. 15 and now directly and/or indirectly holds 174,528 common and 11,520 common. Michael Lambert, vice president, exercised an option for 80,000 shares of common at $5.26 each from Sept. 22 to Sept. 23 and sold 100,174 shares between $60.00 and $62.00 each from Sept. 22 to Sept. 23 and now directly and indirectly holds 535,266 common. Claudine Malone, director, exercised an option for 278,400 shares of common between $0.58 and $18.52 each from Sept. 9 to Sept. 11 and sold 220,800 shares between $55.06 and $60.00 each from Sept. 9 to Sept. 11 and now directly holds 177,600 common. Joseph Marengi, vice president, sold 19,262 shares of common between $58.50 and $60.00 each from Sept. 8 to Sept. 22. Marengi indirectly sold 440 shares of common at $68.13 each on Sept. 29 and now directly and indirectly holds 137,916 common. Rosendo Parra, divisional officer, exercised an option for 82,580 shares of common between $0.58 and $2.89 each on Sept. 30 and sold 72,580 shares between $65.63 and $66.06 each on Sept. 30 and now directly and indirectly holds 354,706 common. Charles Saunders, divisional officer, sold 10,000 shares of common between $58.88 and $59.00 each on Sept. 15 and now directly and indirectly holds 214,012 common. James Schneider, vice president, exercised an option for 75,000 shares of common at $4.96 each from Sept. 16 to Sept. 28. To cover expenses of the transaction Schneider turned in 33,658 of them for $59.95 each from Sept. 16 to Sept. 28 and sold 150,000 shares in the open market between $62.00 and $68.31 each from Sept. 16 to Sept. 28 and now directly and indirectly holds 468,702 common. Alex Smith, vice president, exercised an option for 40,000 shares of common at $0.74 each on Sept. 16 and sold them at $60.00 each on Sept. 16 and now directly and indirectly holds 203,684 common.

To: LWolf who wrote (203)	11/24/1998 5:59:00 PM
From: jbn3	Respond to of 335

Personal computer sales increase in Europe (28 October 98) From Austin American-Statesman, Wednesday, October 28, page C2 By Bundeep S. Rangar, Bloomberg News LONDON-Personal computer sales in Europe rose about 22 percent in the third quarter, outpacing U.S. growth as increased corporate spending on information technology sparked demand, two market research companies said. International Data Group's IDC research unit said sales rose 21.9 percent to 4.9 million units, while London-based context pegged growth at 22.4 percent to 5.25 million units. By contrast, U.S. PC sales grew between 14 percent and 18 percent, according to IDC and Dataquest Inc. Direct PC seller Dell Computer Corp., based in round Rock, grew the fastest, increasing its market share about 3 percent. Europeans from chief executives to homemakers are beginning to appreciate how computers can help them place orders, find data or entertain children. A Europe-wide economic recovery, coupled with corporate spending on hardware ahead of the planned European common currency also boosted sales. "The western Europe market is growing faster than the U.S. and Asia," said Terry Ernest-Jones, research manager for personal systems at IDC, "It's still thriving, though we expect it to level out at about 12 percent next year." Dell grew more than 90 percent for a market share in Europe estimated between 8.5 percent and 9.1 percent in the three months through September. Compaq, which sold more than twice as many PCs as Dell, maintained its lead with a 19 percent market share. Its sale grew about 38 percent. After a slump in European PC sales in 1996 and early 1997, demand recovered for a fifth consecutive quarter as Germany, France, Italy and other nations that cut spending to qualify for the European monetary union's loosened fiscal restraints. The Swedish market, with a 69 percent growth rate, grew fastest as employee-purchase programs enabled companies to sell PCs to their employees at low prices. Among the three largest markets, France led with 21.5 percent, followed by Germany at 18.9 percent and the United Kingdom with 18 percent, according to Context. Apple computer Inc. which introduced its iMac model late in the quarter, increased sales 29 percent, shipping 141,793 units for a 2.7 percent market share, Context said.

To: LWolf who wrote (203)	11/24/1998 6:33:00 PM
From: jbn3	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 335

Dell picks up big deals, lowers prices (Sara Lee, FTD) From Austin American-Statesman, Saturday, October 31, page G2 Sara Lee, FTD to use Round Rock company's equipment by Jerry Mahoney, Austin American-Statesman Round Rock-on a recent trip to Chicago to speak to a group of business executives about computers and the Internet, Michael Dell took time out for another part of his job: He met with customers. The 33-year-old chief executive of Dell Computer Corp. who promotes the Internet as an effective way to expand business in virtually every speech he gives, returned to Austin with big orders from Sara Lee Corp. and FTD Inc. Sara Lee, the Chicago based food and personal products concern, said it will buy $30 million in hardware from Dell in each of the next two years. The consumer-goods company, whose global sales last year exceeded $20 billion, said the standardization on Dell equipment will help cut costs as it restructures operations. In a deal nearly as big, Michael Dell and FTD Inc. signed an agreement in principal under which members of the florist group would buy more than 20,000 Dell OptiPlex Gx1 desktops, workstations and servers over the next two years. Founded in 1910, the FTD network links 20,000 florists in the United States and Canada. Dell will install the group's Mercury Wings hardware and software, named for the widely recognized FTD logo. The package will allow florists to use the Internet for such tasks as ordering supplies while receiving orders from customers. Wang Global, one of Dell's service partners, is expected to install the systems and train the florists to use them. The contracts with Sara Lee and FTD have been under discussion for months. Dell, which shipped an estimated 1.27 million computers in the third quarter, announces only a fraction of the contracts it signs with customers. Press releases on the deals and on a recent price cut may signal a more aggressive publicity policy, as Dell closes in n Compaq Computer corp. for U.S. and worldwide sales. Dell said it was passing along declining prices for components and lowering prices up to 13 percent on its Dimensions PCs for consumers and small businesses. A Dimension V350 with a 350 megahertz Pentium II and 32-megabyte hard drive dropped $200 to $1,314. A Dimension XPS R450 with a 450-megahertz Pentium II and 128 megabytes of hard drive storage dropped $281 to $2,310.

To: LWolf who wrote (203)	11/24/1998 7:08:00 PM
From: jbn3	Respond to of 335

Tale of two computer buyers: Sprint and Black & Decker austin360.com:80/biz/11nov/23/23customers.htm When Sprint Communications Co. began a five-month evaluation of its computing needs late last year, it looked hard at products and services from the two Texas personal computer giants, Compaq Computer Corp. and Dell Computer Corp. The long-distance and Internet-access provider based in Kansas City, Mo., had used Compaq's computers for more than 10 years, said Lorin Olsen, Sprint's senior manager of enterprise network services. But a few years ago, it began updating the desktops with Dell's. At stake in this year's contract, which would extend almost three years, were tens of thousands of desktops and notebooks and hundreds of servers. Dell and Compaq fight aggressively for such accounts and aren't shy about trumpeting their victories. Dell has alerted the press -- and investors -- to its sales victories with increasing frequency. In a week's time recently, Dell announced sales to Sara Lee Corp. and FTD. Dell won the Sprint account, Olsen said, because it offered comparable computers at lower prices and was more flexible about meeting the needs of Sprint, a company with $15 billion in revenues and more than 16 million customers. "Dell was much more willing to partner with Sprint than Compaq was at the time," he said. "Compaq was still trying to leverage a premium price for what are becoming commodity components," he said. But a $2 billion unit of Black & Decker Corp. was willing to pay the higher cost for Compaq equipment. The company's North American Power Tools Group already owned computers made by Compaq and Digital Equipment Corp., which Compaq acquired this year. Moreover, Black & Decker was concerned about abandoning its Unix-based system that supports functions that must continue to keep the business going, said Will Kostelecky, director of operations for the North American unit. Windows NT, Microsoft Corp.'s most powerful operating system that is steadily eating away at the Unix market, still can't be trusted with the most vital, demanding functions, he said. "All the transaction-processing system was Unix, all the hardware was Digital," he said. "I'm waiting for NT to support a terabyte of data." Analysts agree that DEC's Alpha chip and Unix systems will provide Compaq an edge in the high-end server business, at least until an industrial-strength Windows NT is released. That is not expected until 2000 or beyond. In the meantime, the Black & Decker division will buy dozens of Compaq servers and hundreds of desktops, Kostelecky said.