Dell Not Talking About Dell Stock

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Dell Not Talking About Dell Stock

By: David Utter
2006-05-05

Founder Michael Dell wanted to extol the high points of Dell Computer during his talk at a conference, but one attendee derailed him with criticism of the company's flat stock price.

Dell Not Talking About Dell Stock

At Austin's World Conference on Information Technology, Dell (DELL) chairman Michael Dell probably would have preferred the focus of his appearance remain on the long-term future rather than the short-term volatility of emotion-driven investors.

Reuters reported that one audience member wasn't content to spend the session wishing Dell Computer a happy 22nd birthday. That someone asked why the stock has plummeted in recent months and what Dell planned to do about it.

Dell seemed to be taken off-guard, the article noted, as he responded, "I didn't think that was the purpose of this meeting."

While Dell likely had a point, the company's stock has been mostly flat from Halloween 2005 through April 2006. In the past month, Dell stock dropped some more, into the mid-20s. It closed today at 25.59, up 27 cents.

The chairman has no patience for investors who lack patience either. "Let's kind of review the situation here. In the last 10 years our company has grown about 10 times and our stock is up a couple thousand percent," Dell said in his speech.

"During the last 22 years, we have had a pretty remarkable track record of growth in our business, but there's no kind of perfect, linear path to success."

Analysts don't think Dell has a perfect path to success, either. UBS analysts pushed their target price for Dell down from $32 to $28 last week, and maintained a "neutral" rating on the stock, according to NewRatings.

Dell may wish to chat with another tech executive attending the conference. AMD (AMD) chairman and CEO Hector Ruiz was involved with technology long before Dell started his company from a dorm room.

Ruiz would love to see Dell do more business with AMD, especially since that would cost hated rival Intel (INTC) some of its Dell business. If Ruiz and company can put together a deal where it can help Dell's profit margins, Michael Dell may just have to listen.

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Tag: Dell

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About the Author:
David Utter is a staff writer for InternetFinancialNews and WebProNews covering technology and business.


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