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

To: stockman_scott who wrote (117401)	4/14/1999 8:38:00 PM
From: Mohan Marette	Respond to of 176387

PC Follies------> scott: What a day eh? =================== PC Follies The Take April 14, 1999 by Phil Harvey -Upside It's been nearly a week since Compaq (CPQ) said its first quarter revenues would fall well short of Wall Street's expectations. At the time, Compaq pinned the shortfall on "lower than anticipated market share" and "increased competitive pricing" in the commercial PC sector. Later, CEO Eckhard Pfeiffer said he was waiting to see confirmation of Compaq's claims as its competitors report their earnings. Perhaps that will happen, but sharing the sting of a supposedly sagging market won't stop Compaq's competitors from picking away at its corporate PC market share. "There are some [PC demand] issues that will hit all vendors," writes analyst and UPSIDE contributor Aaron Goldberg in an April 12 research note from ZD Market Intelligence. Goldberg surmised that while the demand for corporate PCs has been generally lower in the first quarter, direct vendors may find they can keep money flowing by also selling peripherals. But while direct vendors have this advantage, Compaq has to defer sales of peripherals to third-party resellers. Waning demand or not, Compaq seems to be staring down a company that has a better business model. "We haven't seen the end of the changes in how the 'indirects' are doing business," says Danny Young, director of Dell's OptiPlex (its corporate PC product) sales and marketing. But, Young concedes, Dell's direct model isn't as good as it will get. "Our direct model constantly evolving," he says. "We are constantly making improvement in our services offerings." In a March 24 research note, ZD Market Intelligence pointed out that Dell (DELL) has increased market share each quarter since Q4 97. Further, preliminary results for Q1 1999 show Dell has a sizable lead over Compaq in the U.S. workplace, according to the report. Compaq did not return calls from Upside Today.