Posts related to ‘PC Companies’

Dell Very Disappointing… Very (DELL)

Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) reported earnings of $0.17 EPS as a headline, but the clean number is $0.23 EPS on a non-GAAP basis and $12.9 billion in revenues.  Thomson Reuters had estimates pegged at $0.28 for non-GAAP EPS and $13.18 billion in revenues.

Dell had previously noted that it did not expect the commercial refresh and upgrade cycle to come into play until 2010.  Michael Dell noted, “We are seeing improvement in overall underlying IT demand that is continuing into the fourth quarter. The same is true with momentum in Dell’s business, specifically in our Large Enterprise and SMB segments. The launch of Windows 7 is being very well received by SMBs and consumers, and we’ll see the benefits of that more fully in our fiscal Q4.”  Unfortunately, that is where the decent to good news stops and is nowhere near good enough for the show-me attitude of investors now.

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Posted on: November 19, 2009 – 4:07 pm in Earnings, PC Companies, Technology Companies, , ,

Make or Break Earnings for Dell (DELL)

Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) is set to report earnings after the closing bell today.  Thomson Reuters has estimates pegged at $0.28 EPS and $13.18 billion in revenues.  For the coming quarter those estimates are $0.30 EPS and $13.54 billion in revenues.  We have heard whisper numbers of $0.29 EPS and even higher, and the highest estimates look to be $0.30 EPS and just over $13.5 billion in revenues.  The numbers and guidance are going to be closely looked at, perhaps even more than the bulk of the rest of the commentary.
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Posted on: November 19, 2009 – 12:30 pm in Earnings, PC Companies, Technology Companies,

Too Many Apple (AAPL) Stores

appleApple (NASDAQ:AAPL) will have too many retail stores at some point. It will face the “Starbucks problem” of over-building. Starbucks once boasted that it would eventually have 40,000 coffee shops worldwide. It will be lucky to end up with 20,000.

A $3 cup of coffee is not a $1,500 Mac. Apple will reach a ceiling of profitable retail stores at a count much lower than Starbucks.

Apple has 279 stores and is adding to that total at the rate of about 50 per year and that pace is likely to increase. According to CNET, 170 million people visited Apple outlets in the company’s 2009 fiscal year and during that period the company brought in $6.6  billion of its $29.9 billion in revenue through sales at retail. Read More »

Posted on: November 13, 2009 – 5:53 am in PC Companies, Retail, , ,

Tech Giants Now Hold ~$265 Billion Cash To Spend (HPQ, COMS, INTC, AMD, MSFT, CSCO, AAPL, GOOG, ORCL, JAVA, QCOM, EMC, YHOO, DELL, AMZN, EBAY, ONT, BRCD, JDSU, STAR, VMW)

You have already seen the Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) buyout of 3Com Corporation (NASDAQ: COMS).  But this week before that deal was announced we covered how mergers in the technology sector have been very slow to develop over the scale in which we and others think is possible for the sector.  After the Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) settlement with Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD), the tally of cash that is now estimated would be an implied $265 billion that is available for the tech giants in our 24/7 Wall St. Real-Time 500 to make acquisitions.

The giant cash balances are held by Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT), Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), and Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL), assuming nothing happens with Sun Microsystems Inc. (NASDAQ: JAVA).  But players like QUALCOMM Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM), EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC), International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM), Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL), Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO), Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), and eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) are either all sitting with large amounts of cash or will be very soon.

We have broken out these technology, IT, software, and Internet companies by the cash amount they hold or what they have in a soon-to-be cash balance.  Of course only a fraction of this cash will be used for mergers.  But there is also a ton of room here for dividends and of course the share buybacks.

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Posted on: November 12, 2009 – 11:31 am in Consumer Electronics, Cramer, Dividend, Editor's Picks, Internet, Large Cap Stocks, Mergers and Buy Outs, PC Companies, Private Equity, Rumors, Semiconductor, Software, Stock Buybacks, Technology Companies, Telecom, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Amazon (AMZN) Launches Free Kindle Software For PC

TVBy Douglas A. McIntyre

There is a new product on the home page of Amazon.com (NYSE:AMZN). PC users can now download a free version of Kindle software which allows Kindle users to synchronize the libraries on their Kindle e-readers with their PCs.

The move is a curious one for Amazon, which sells the Kindle for $259. Why give away any related software at all? Amazon has not said, but it is easy to guess.

Read more…

Posted on: November 12, 2009 – 8:29 am in PC Companies,

Tech Titans Still Have $269 Billion Cash For Deals (MSFT, CSCO, AAPL, GOOG, INTC, HPQ, QCOM, EMC, VMW, YHOO, DELL, ORCL, JAVA, AMZN, EBAY)

The recovery is on and mergers are happening, yet the technology sector has been slow to make deals.  Despite some deals already having taken place from the technology giants and that $260 billion cash balance which was there in the middle of last quarter is even larger now.  The tally for cash by our count is now right around $269 billion.  We looked through the top market caps of technology companies in our 24/7 Wall St. Real-Time 500 and this list is expanded now that some issues have been resolved in all the companies.  The stocks in this group are Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT), Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC), Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL), Sun Microsystems Inc. (NASDAQ: JAVA), Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE: HPQ), QUALCOMM Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM), EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC), International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM), Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL), Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO), Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), and eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY).

These few tech companies with the $269 billion cash that could be deployed for mergers, acquisitions, or the good old dividends are also listed before tallying up credit lines, factoring, debt sales, and other creative financing methods.  We have listed the suppositions and counting methods for each one to illustrate how much is available at each company.
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Posted on: November 10, 2009 – 1:07 pm in Consumer Electronics, Dividend, Editor's Picks, Internet, Large Cap Stocks, Mergers and Buy Outs, PC Companies, Private Equity, Rumors, Semiconductor, Technology Companies, Value Investing, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Microsoft (MSFT) Windows 7 And The Renewal Of The PC Industry

TVMicrosoft (NYSE:MSFT) Windows 7 sales in the first week after its introduction last month outdid Vista sales during the first week after its launch in January 2007 by 234%, according to industry research firm NPD. Microsoft has certainly encouraged the rumors that the operating system is doing well, but that no longer appears to be an empty boast. Read More »

Posted on: November 9, 2009 – 4:12 am in PC Companies, Software, , , ,

Intel’s (INTC) Worst Day: Why Didn’t IBM Rat On Mr. Chips?

nokThere may have been a time when Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) wanted to be the next Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), at least in terms of earnings, market cap, and share of market. It has, in essence, followed in Redmond’s footsteps, at least with antitrust authorities.

Intel is becoming more embroiled by the month in charges that it used threats and kickbacks to keep PC and servers companies from doing business with its smaller competitor AMD (NYSE:AMD). AMD is close to ruin, though it is a matter of opinion whether its current state was caused by former CEO Hector Ruiz or Intel’s clandestine actions.

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo filed antitrust charges against Intel Corp., alleging the company threatened computer makers and paid huge kickbacks to stop them from using competitors’ chips, according to The Wall Street Journal. Among the companies that Intel may have threatened are IBM (NYSE:IBM), Dell (NASDAQ:DELL), and Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ). Read More »

Posted on: November 4, 2009 – 12:33 pm in Hardware, Law, PC Companies, , , , ,

Another Win For Apple (AAPL): The Touchscreen

appleIt is getting harder and harder to find any flaws in Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) businesses. The company’s shares trade at $190, very near their all-time high. Analysts expect record results from the company for the calendar fourth quarter as holiday shoppers drive better-than-usual sales of iPods, Macs, and iPhones.

comScore (NASDAQ:SCOR) released data that shows touchscreen smartphone sales up 159% from August 2008 to August 2009 when units sold hit 23.8 million. The growth was much greater than that for the total smartphone category which was up 63% in the US for the same period to 33.8 million units. Read More »

Posted on: November 3, 2009 – 2:43 pm in PC Companies, Wireless, , , , ,

Analyst Sees Windows 7 Pricing Data & Penetration Rates (MSFT, DELL, HPQ, YHOO)

Windows 7 LogoAuriga is a boutique research firm that many have not heard of, but this morning the firm has reiterated its BUY rating on Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) and its $33.50 price target after yesterday’s $27.88 closing bell price.  The reason for today’s call is that the firm obtained detailed Windows 7 pricing in as-sold models from Microsoft for six of the OEM companies from more than 100 PCs.  And the first weeks of data may offer more insight than any official price target on overall market penetration rates. Particularly when you compare the data to other outside and independent research for overall Windows 7 penetration rates.

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Posted on: November 3, 2009 – 9:52 am in Analyst Calls, PC Companies, Software, , , ,

Apple’s Tablet Computer: The DVD Killer

appleThe music industry never saw the Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPod coming. The iPod was an expensive toy when it was introduced in 2001. There was no reason to think it would do well. Digital multimedia players were not part of mainstream consumer electronics. Read More »

Posted on: October 27, 2009 – 5:13 am in Hardware, Media, Old Media, PC Companies, , , , ,

What If Apple (AAPL) Misses Earnings?

appleWall St. believes that Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) will make $1.42 a share for the quarter that just ended on $9.2 billion in revenue. Both figures would be well over 10% higher than a year ago.  Apple would have to sell about of 2.9 million Macs, 10.5 million iPods and 6.9 million iPhones to hit those numbers.

Fulfilling those expectations will be a tall order. iPod sales dropped 7% in the June quarter. Mac sales were only up 4% to 2.6 million, and iPhone sales reached 5.2 million. Read More »

Posted on: October 19, 2009 – 5:57 am in Earnings, PC Companies, Wireless, ,

Worth Noting: Acer Passes Dell (DELL) Worldwide And Apple (AAPL) In US

appleA number of media sources are reporting that Taiwan-based Acer has passed Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) to become the No. 2 PC-maker in the world.

Research firm IDC reports that Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ) retained its spot as No.1 with a global market share of 20.2%. Acer’s share was 14% last quarter, up from 11% in the same period a year earlier. Dell’s share dropped to 12.7% from 14.2%.

In the US, HP’s share was 25.5%, Dell’s 25%, Acer’s 11.1%, and Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) 9.4%.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted on: October 16, 2009 – 12:33 pm in PC Companies, , ,

The Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) Results May Not Be Good For PCs

TVThe immediate reaction to Intel’s (NASDAQ:INTC) results, which were better than expected, is that they signalled an improvement in the PC industry. Intel provides about 70% of PC chips.

The world’s largest chip company said it was comfortable with industry estimates that PC sales will grow 10% worldwide next year. Growth is one thing. Profitability another. Read More »

Posted on: October 14, 2009 – 5:27 am in Earnings, PC Companies, Semiconductor, Technology Companies, , , ,

Despite The Recession, Dell (DELL) Goes Super High-End

nokDell (DELL) may be taking a page from the Apple (AAPL) marketing manual. A PC with extraordinary features and a beautiful case will sell for more than $2,000, at least to some people. The Apple Mac has dominated the $1,000 plus PC market for the last two years. Dell means to get a larger portion of that market.

The No.2 PC firm is releasing the Latitude Z 600. The machine will be .57 inches in thickness and have a 16 inch screen according to Engadget. It will use a Core 2 Duo processor. And, it will cost more than $2,000. With a full array of features, that price could go much higher. Read More »

Posted on: September 29, 2009 – 6:06 am in PC Companies, ,

Tech Titans Holding $260 Billion In Cash (DELL, PER, ORCL, JAVA, MSFT, AAPL, IBM, GOOG, CSCO, INTC, HPQ, QCOM, EMC, YHOO)

The economy is obviously getting better, so long as you are not one of the unemployed or about to lose your job.  Now with more than a 50% rally from the March lows and a Dow Jones Industrial Average challenging the 10,000 level, suddenly everyone wants to put on their investment banker hats again and look for buyers and buyout candidates after deals are announced.  This week’s Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) deal for Perot Systems Corp. (NASDAQ: PER) was a $3.9 billion acquisition versus $12.7 billion in cash and equivalents held at the end of the quarter.  The Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL) deal for Sun Microsystems Inc. (NASDAQ: JAVA) is valued at $7.4 billion, or $5.6 billion net of Sun’s cash and debt.  We went back through our list from September 2, 2009 where we noted that outside of the financials  in the 20 largest US companies had a cash hoard of $335 billion that could be used for mergers and acquisitions, and that is not accounting for lines of credit, stock or debt that could be sold, and other means of financing a deal.  While nowhere near all of the cash will ever be used, many companies could pay big dividends before any tax changes.

So we wanted to look through the technology sector and after we looked through the top 100 markets caps in our 24/7 Wall St. Real-Time 500 we added a few new additions in the tech sector that still had over $5 billion in cash.  Out if the $335 billion from those in the top twenty, we broke out Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT), International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO), Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC), Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL).  Even after a huge rally, $335 billion and then some could go a very long way for strategic and bolt-on acquisitions as a positioning strategy for the next decade.  Now, going further down the list of the top 100 companies with $5 billion or more in cash from tech companies alone adds in Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE: HPQ), QUALCOMM Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM), EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC), and Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO). When we tally up all the cash, there is over $260 billion available from these few tech companies that could be deployed for mergers, acquisitions, or the good old dividends.  Again, that is before tallying up credit lines, factoring, debt sales, and other financing methods.
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Posted on: September 25, 2009 – 6:41 am in Consumer Electronics, Dividend, Editor's Picks, Internet, Large Cap Stocks, Mergers and Buy Outs, PC Companies, Private Equity, Rumors, Semiconductor, Software, Technology Companies, Value Investing, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Dell (DELL) Overpays For Perot Systems (PER)

nokShares of Perot Systems (PER) are up 65% to $29.69 on news that the company will be bought for $3.9 billion. Perot’s 52-week high.

Dell is substantially overpaying to get into the technology and IT infrastructure business, industries where it is far behind rivals including IBM (IBM) and HP (HPQ). Dell may believe that it has no choice other than to pay a financial premium that it cannot defend on an ROI basis because of a strategic need that it cannot fulfill within its current operation. Dell has been criticized on Wall St. for relying too much on PC and server sales, where margins have come under more and more pressure. Read More »

Posted on: September 21, 2009 – 8:27 am in Mergers and Buy Outs, PC Companies, Technology Companies, , , ,

Sony (SNE) Browser Deal With Google (GOOG) Too Small To Matter

nokGoogle (GOOG) has set a deal to distribute its Chrome browser on Sony (SNE) PCs. Google has not had much success in getting computer users to switch from the two dominant browsers which are Microsoft (MSFT) Internet Explorer and Firefox.

The partnership between the companies is too small to matter. The largest PC companies including Dell (DELL), HP (HPQ), Acer, and Lenovo, do not have relationships with Google for browser distribution. Without one of more of them, Google can’t make a dent in the market. Read More »

Posted on: September 1, 2009 – 6:05 am in Internet, PC Companies, , , , ,

Intel Guidance Highlights Peers & Comps (INTC, AMD, MSFT, NVDA, MU, DELL)

Intel LogoIntel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) is raising guidance this morning.  What is interesting is that this may actually highlight the strength among its peers and competitors more than it drives Intel shares alone.  The guidance was raised based upon “stronger than expected demand for microprocessors and chipsets.”

The processor giant now sees Q3 revenue of $9.0 billion, plus or minus $200 million.  This is above its prior target of $8.5 billion plus or minus $400 million.  Thomson Reuters had estimates at $8.55 billion.

Intel stock is up 4.5% at $20.35 on about 5.2 million shares.  But the real strength is on rival Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD), which is also supposedly seeing stronger demand from all the PC and netbook demand out there.  AMD shares are up 5.2% at $4.45 on right at 1 million shares.

And what about Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT)?  Windows 7 has to at least be a part of this as the increased demand for processors since it is probably not all going into Linux suddenly… Its shares are up 2.2% at $25.22 on only about 400,000 shares.  This may actually be a trading disappointment to some.
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Posted on: August 28, 2009 – 9:31 am in PC Companies, Semiconductor, Technology Companies, Trading Alert, , , , , ,

Dell Scores One… Early (DELL)

Dell LogoDell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) has reported earnings.  The PC-giant posted earnings of $0.24 EPS and $12.76 billion in revenues.  Thomson Reuters had estimates for the former PC-leader at $0.23 EPS and $12.59 billion in revenues. While the earnings report was going to be key, there were several other considerations.

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Posted on: August 27, 2009 – 4:07 pm in Earnings, PC Companies, Technology Companies,