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