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To: Warren A. Wilbur, Jr. who wrote (32705)	12/22/1998 10:06:00 PM
From: Tom Latham	Respond to of 119973

Not so good news: Tuesday December 22, 6:06 pm Eastern Time Ingram Micro sees fourth quarter earnings shortfall SAN FRANCISCO, Dec 22 (Reuters) - Ingram Micro Inc., the largest distributor of personal computers in the U.S., said Tuesday that its fourth quarter earnings will be below Wall Street expectations, citing slower-than-expected PC sales. The Santa Ana, Calif.-based computer distributor said that while it still expects 1998 to be a record year in revenues and earnings, it experienced slower-than-expected PC sales in the U.S., during what is usually the biggest quarter of the year. The company said it expects to post fourth quarter net income between $73-$75 million, or 48 cents to 50 cents per share, which is below Wall Street's expectations. According to First Call, the consensus estimate on Wall Street for Ingram Micro's fourth quarter is 56 cents a share. For the fourth quarter ending Jan. 2, Ingram Micro said it expects net sales to be between $6 billion and $6.2 billion, 17 to 21 percent higher than reported in the same period last year, which had five additional selling days. ''Although for the fourth quarter we experienced slower than expected PC sales in the United States, we anticipate restored momentum for even greater success in 1999,'' said Ingram Micro chief executive Jerre Stead. Analysts said that the news was fairly surprising in a quarter which is usually the PC industry's biggest, but it is also an indicator of how the popularity of lower-priced PCs is hurting both PC companies and distributors alike. ''Demand overall is continuing at a fairly good clip, but there are issues that are effecting suppliers and distributors,'' said Kevin Hause, an analyst at International Data Corp., a market research firm. ''We have vendors who are interested in maintaining tight distribution...and prices have come down considerably.'' Ingram said that its full-year net income is expected to grow more than 25 percent to over $240 million, resulting in earnings per share of between $1.63 and $1.65, including a non-cash compensation charge, for 1998 earnings. Analysts expected the company to post 1998 earnings of $1.72 per share, according to First Call. Despite the slowdown in PC sales, Ingram said it expects its full-year net sales to grow more than 30 percent to between $21.8 billion and $22.0 billion, compared with $16.6 billion for all of 1997. ***In after-hours trading, Ingram Micro shares were down $9.25 to $37, according to the Instinet trading system.**** Related News Categories: US Market News