Today's MS Dell CNBC interview may be seen, heard or read at:
nasdaq-amex.com
For the record, here's the transcript. [Sorry if previously posted, 500 posts a day is just too many for me to even scan. :-(]
CNBC- MARKET WATCH
INTERVIEW WITH DELL (DELL) CEO MICHAEL DELL
MAY 07, 1999
SUMMARY: Dell says he hasn't seen any weakness in his company's business. He expects the company to be the best performing company in their sector.
Compaq has certainly been in the news of late. And in the time before Mr. Pfeiffer's departure, there was a lot of talk ultimately about their pre-announcement and the fact that they expected and he expected. He had told me that it wasn't a Compaq-only phenomena, that actually weakness in the PC sector extended to other makers, such as you. Have you and see any of that weakness or was this, in fact, a Compaq-only story?
We haven't and see any weakness, in fact, business continues to be very solid. I think it is or was a Compaq-specific issue. And I think that you see those companies that are well-positioned, particularly strong distribution channels, growth in all the major geographies, broadening out of the product lines and in our case particularly the server and workstation and storage and the Internet really fueling a lot of our growth. We're doing quite well.
David: There is some turmoil at the top of Compaq. There is not a new CEO at this point, or at least the leader they expect will be there for some time. Do you see that as an advantage? Is there an opportunity for you to try and take even more market share or market share from them?
It may in the short term create some opportunities for us, and we certainly wouldn't be afraid to go after those.
David: What are you seeing in your business right now? You said demand looks good, I think is what I heard you more or less just say. The last quarter of market, at least, was a bit disappointed by 38%. I believe it that was the number, correct me if I'm wrong, year-over-year revenue growth well outpacing that of the industry. Do you think this time for the next quarter that the Street will not be upset? Have they brought their expectations down, perhaps, to meet the performance of your company?
I think, you know, people are going to be -- continue to see that dell is growing much faster than the market. Whether that meets everyone's expectations, I really don't have any way of knowing, but certainly we expect that we will be the best-performing company in our sector based on the growth that we're seeing, in not only revenues, but also earnings. We're quite pleased with the way the business is performing. It's healthy and we'll have to wait and see when we announce our results whether people are overjoyed or just happy enough or just overnight.
David: It can be a part your job in some ways to moderate that expectation so that your stock price doesn't ultimately get effected. Do you think you've done that? Have the analysts sort of come into line, so to speak, of not perhaps raising the bar so high?
We had an analyst meeting several weeks ago, and we encouraged the analysts not to change their outlooks on the company based on what we were giving them as a fairly long-range outlook of the company's ability to sustain faster than the market's overall growth rate. And I think most of them took that advice to heart and, you know, we very much believe in the message that we gave them then, which is that, again, you know, we are well-positioned and we'll continue to grow quite quickly.
David: Two quick questions. Margins, component prices continue to come down. Will that benefit margins?
It does benefit margins, although certainly if component costs come down, it has an offsetting negative on average selling prices, which means we have to sell more units to get the same dollar revenue.
David: Y2K, any issues there with regard to demand from the corporate marketplace; more now or more later or not really an issue?
As the year has progressed, I think we're getting more and more comfortable as our customers are getting more and more comfortable with the Y2K transition. And we haven't really and see as dramatic an impact, you know, from this. It's also our belief that in the second half of the year we're going to see strength, particularly from the small business market, which is a very strong segment for dell and government segment. As well, our consumer business is really very, very strong right now.
David: okay, Mr. Dell. We're going to leave it there. Thanks for being with us.
Thank you.
David: Michael Dell, of course, CEO with Dell Computer. With that I'll send it back to you, Consuelo. |
