reisert@mast.dec.com (Jim -- MLO3-6/14B -- DTN 223-5747 04-Jun-1991 1328) (06/05/91)
Dell Computer - Post fiscal 1st quarter profit increase of 88%
{The Wall Street Journal, 31-May-91, p. B4}
Dell said profit rose 88% to $10.1 million from $5.3 million. Sales
rose 45% to $174.8 million from $120.3 million a year ago. The big gain
comes at a time when competitors such as Compaq and IBM have warned of
sluggish sales and declining profits related to price wars and
consolidation among computer retailers. But Michael S. Dell, Dell's
chairman and CEO, said Dell has avoided those troubles because more than
85% of his company's personal computers are sold directly to users through
mail and telephone orders, avoiding dealers' markups and resulting in
prices 15% to 50% lower than the competition's. Partly because of its
strong sales, Dell said it had only 9.1 weeks of inventory at the end of
the quarter, below its desired minimum of 10 to 11 weeks and two weeks
below the year-ago level. The company is trying to build back its
inventory. But its new notebook computer remains in short supply, with a
backlog of as much as eight week's orders. Dell and most other makers of
the small machines have found disk drives and displays for notebook
computers to be scarce for several months.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
"The opinions expressed here in no way represent the views of Digital
Equipment Corporation."
James J. Reisert Internet: reisert@mast.enet.dec.com
Digital Equipment Corp. UUCP: ...decwrl!mast.enet!reisert
146 Main Street Voice: 508-493-5747
Maynard, MA 01754 FAX: 508-493-0395