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

To: Roads End who wrote (35806)	11/4/1998 5:07:00 PM
From: Elwood P. Dowd	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 97611

Wednesday November 4 4:48 PM EDT Compaq Sees Solid PC Sales Growth MUNICH (Reuters) - Compaq Computer Corp (NYSE:CPQ - news) says it is confident the computer industry was headed for solid growth over the next few years, contrary to a recent forecast by a respected market researcher. PC industry unit sales were likely to grow at robust rates, offsetting declines in average selling prices that have hindered revenue gains, said Kasper Rorstedt, vice president for marketing at the European arm of the world's largest PC maker. ''We're not saying the high growth of 28 percent (in Europe) is going to continue, but we still see double-digit growth in the future,'' he told Reuters in an interview. The personal computer industry has been roiled in the last several months by a report from Forrester Research predicting PC revenue would peak in 1999, then stagnate between 2000 and 2002 as a result of a drop in corporate purchases. Rorstedt said Compaq was not worried by the prediction. ''Right now we don't see that as a threat that's coming,'' he said. At least in Europe in the third quarter, PC sales showed no sign of weakness. Unit sales in the region rose 23.4 percent, boosted by a 48.8 percent rise in sales to consumers, according to Dataquest, another market researcher. Corporate PC sales rose 17 percent. Revenue climbed at a slower rate, 13 percent, because consumer PCs sell for much lower average prices than professional PCs. Compaq remained on top in Europe as its unit sales increased 33.4 percent, with rates of 38 to 41 percent in Germany, France and Britain. Rorstedt said Compaq was working to lower costs to absorb the impact of lower average selling prices (ASPs). ''We are working on getting even more efficient to keep our margins,'' he said. In August the average price of PCs sold was 20 percent lower than the year before, Rorstedt said.