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

To: Phillip C. Lee who wrote (22471)	1/14/1999 12:43:00 PM
From: FIRENZA	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 213173

I was furious when I saw that downgrade by Smith Barney. I was even more furious when CNBC reported the downgrade, but never made any mention of the upgrade by DLJ. One of the prime reasons for Smith Barney's downgrade was that they felt there was too much inventory in the channel. Yet the APPLE earnings report states that they ended the quarter with only 2 days inventory. The shelves are bare at COMP USA etc. So I faxed CNBC's newsdesk at (201) 346-6527 with my complaint about how this story was reported. I suggest anyone else who is as angry as I about how this story was handled today to cut, paste, and print the following and fax it off to CNBC. MY FAX: Apple was downgraded today after beating estimates. It was also upgraded by another firm yet CNBC did not report that. WHY???? "Unit growth year-over-year was three to four times higher than the industry average," said Steve Jobs, Apple's interim CEO. "In addition, Apple ended the quarter with only two days of inventory, besting industry-leading Dell's seven days of inventory." HERES THE UPGRADE: NEW YORK, Jan 14 (Reuters) - Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette analyst, Kevin McCarthy, upgraded Apple Computer Inc. <AAPL.O> to a buy rating from a market perform. Further details were not immediately available. Apple Wednesday reported its fifth consecutive quarterly profit. Net income more than tripled to $152 million, or 95 cents a share on a diluted basis, from $47 million, 33 cents, in the year-ago quarter. Excluding one-time gains, Apple's per share earnings were 78 cents, compared with the Wall Street consensus of 70 cents, according to First Call. The downgrade was attributed to price (yeah too high for the shorts) and excess inventory. FALSE!!!!!! NEW YORK, Jan 14 (Reuters) - Salomon Smith Barney downgraded personal computer maker, Apple Computer Inc. <AAPL.O>, to a neutral from a buy based primarily on price, a source at the brokerage said. According to the source, Salomon's analyst, Rich Gardner, thought Apple was able "to make their quarter earnings numbers because they stuffed the product channel and might not make next quarter's numbers," the source said. According to the source, Gardner wrote in a morning research report that major computer retailers such as Best Buy Co Inc. <BBY.N> and CompUSA Inc. <CPU.N> were forced to sell iMac's, the company's hot new colorful computer that has helped lead it back to profitability, at a loss toward the end of the quarter in order to clear out inventories. NOT TRUE!!!!!! Apple stated in their earnings release that they have less than 2 days inventory in house. BETTER THAN DELL!!!! Give me a break Looks like too many shorts. And an outright manipulation. I hate that.