Arnie Berman
Arnie Berman
currently dire nearly prices stock technology
nearly as dire as technology stock prices currently reflect.
companies earnings expect good ibm investors managing period
IBM was one of many companies that were good at managing expectations in a period where investors were conditioned to expect earnings surprises.
easiest follows recovery simple spending technology
Any technology spending recovery follows a simple principle: things that are easiest to do without come back last,
anecdotal business closed evidence key postponed question whether
The key question is whether or not business that's not getting closed is representing postponed business or forgone business, ... The anecdotal evidence is indicating that business is probably postponed.
begging breaking clearly industries pace picks question represent tech whether
Clearly there are a lot of industries in tech that are just begging to be consolidated. So the question is not whether the pace of M&A picks up in 2005 but whether it will represent a breaking of the dam.
december either estimates growth higher looks negative period positive row saw third
It looks like we'll have the third period in a row where revisions to estimates are positive. And top-line growth rates, which were negative for a while, will be positive for the third period in a row and will be higher than we saw in either December or March.
brutal chose company example ibm lower missed number quarter results spending technology whose worse
The first quarter was so brutal for technology spending that even IBM missed the number and chose to lower the bar. But here you have an example of a company that's very big and whose results were not, in any respect, worse than expected.
applied capital evidence ibm improvement issues larger last month problems rest services slow tech today transfer
HP's problems with services are not uncommon. IBM has had issues like that, too, of late. The larger problem with tech today (Friday) and in the last month has been that improvement in semiconductor capital equipment, like Applied Materials, doesn't transfer over to the rest of the tech sector. While tech fundamentals are turning, the evidence of that has been slow coming.
announced companies deals evidence merger news provides recent strongest wave willing
This recent wave of merger news provides some of the strongest evidence yet that companies are willing to do some long-term planning. The kind of deals getting announced not just bolt-on acquisitions but transformational deals,