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

To: rudedog who wrote (53425)	3/15/1999 9:29:00 AM
From: Elwood P. Dowd	Respond to of 97611

Monday March 15, 9:07 am Eastern Time Company Press Release Top Computer Companies Hold Their Positions in Technology Business Research, Inc. 4Q98 CBQ Ranking Improved Efficiencies and iMac Sales Allow Apple to Continue to Climb Ranks HAMPTON, N.H.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 15, 1999-- Despite an improvement in its CBQ score for the fourth quarter, Sun Microsystems (Nasdaq: SUNW - news) was unable to catch up to Dell's first-place ranking. Dell Computer (Nasdaq: DELL - news) and Sun Microsystems have competed closely for the #1 spot in TBR's (www.tbri.com) Computer Business Quarterly (CBQ) rankings. Dell regained the top spot from Sun last quarter and this quarter held this ranking, despite a slowdown in overall Dell revenue growth. TBR believes this signals a likely end to the days of Dell's 50%+ quarterly top-line growth. -0- CBQ Benchmark Index for Fourth Quarter 1998 4Q98 Rank 3Q98 Rank 3Q98 4Q98 --------- --------- ---- ---- #1 Dell (Nasdaq: DELL - news) #1 6.93 6.97 ---- #2 Sun (Nasdaq: SUNW - news) #2 6.77 6.85 ---- #3 Compaq (NYSE: CPQ - news) #3 6.19 6.62 --- #4 Gateway (NYSE: GTW - news) #4 5.77 5.89 --- #5 Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HWP - news) #5 5.54 5.59 --- #6 IBM (NYSE: IBM - news) #7 5.18 5.51 ---- #7 Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL - news) #9 4.90 5.43 ---- #8 Micron Nasdaq (MUEI) #6 5.29 5.25 ------ #9 Unisys (NYSE: UIS - news) #16 3.89 5.11 --- #10 Data General (NYSE: DGN - news) #8 5.05 5.08 --- #11 NCR (NYSE: NCR - news) #13 4.39 5.07 --- #12 Silicon Graphics (NYSE: SGI - news) #10 4.55 5.00 --- #13 Packard Bell NEC #15 4.26 4.53 #14 Toshiba America #11 4.50 4.52 #14 Acer Group #12 4.49 4.52 --Source: TBR --Note: Vobis, which ranked 14th in 3Q98, was removed for 4Q98 to be included in TBR's new European CBQ service. Compaq (NYSE: CPQ - news) maintained the #3 position this quarter as its score continues to improve due to increased efficiency and synergies in the combined Compaq-Digital entity. Gateway's (NYSE: GTW - news) focus on direct sales through its website, 1-800 number, and Country Stores, coupled with a focus on increased growth to the SMB and corporate markets, allowed the company to report record revenue and profit, helping it to maintain the fourth position. Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HWP - news) maintained the fifth position this quarter. In this quarter's HP report, TBR suggested that HP must re-evaluate its participation in non-core businesses and clearly articulate a unified corporate strategy regarding HP's position as an Internet company. Following publication of that report, HP announced that it is, in fact, splitting into two separate companies: computing/imaging and measurement. The net result of this announcement should be a more focused, competitive HP going forward. IBM (NYSE: IBM - news) moved up in rank again this quarter, taking the 6th position from Micron Electronics (Nasdaq: MUEI - news). IBM's e-business strategy is beginning to coalesce into a revenue-generating and profit-generating machine based on software, services, and commodity hardware, even as the company's older server businesses begin to slow down again after the introduction of the POWER3 chip and the G5 mainframe. Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL - news) continued to improve its position as well, climbing to the #7 spot from #9 last quarter. Apple turned a symbolic corner this quarter by achieving its first quarter of year-to-year revenue growth in more than three years. Unisys (NYSE: UIS - news) made a dramatic move up the ranks moving from the sixteenth position last quarter to the 9th position this quarter due to Unisys' decision to begin outsourcing its entry-level systems to Hewlett-Packard, which includes portables, desktops, LAN servers, and workstations. TBR believes this is one of the best business decisions Unisys has made with respect to the product-line strategy. ''As saturation of the corporate segment has created a market of essentially replacement sales, vendors are increasingly looking to the SMB and consumer markets to drive growth,'' said TBR's Manager of Computer Business Quarterly, Lindy Lesperance. ''Marketing to the consumer and SMB markets is increasingly becoming less focused on hardware and more focused on the inclusion of services. Vendors who focus on partnerships with service providers will be best positioned for future growth in these markets.'' TBR's highly quantitative, proprietary benchmarking methodology ranks the leading global computer vendors on a comparative basis every quarter, based on effective implementation of product strategy, marketing strategy, manufacturing strategy, and business model. TBR specializes in the competitive analysis of the major players in the global computing market through its industry standard Computer Business Quarterly (CBQ) benchmarking. Complete details are available to accredited journalists. For more information, please visit TBR's website at www.tbri.com, or contact: Contact: EAST COAST CONTACTS Technology Business Research, Inc. Lindy Lesperance, Manager, CBQ 603/929-1166 lesperan@tbri.com or Technology Business Research, Inc. Jon Lindy, Vice President of Marketing 203/426-7172