Dude, did Dell finally score?
Posted
Dec 27 2007, 05:37 PM
by
Matt Koppenheffer
Rating:
Was bringing Dell back to Dell the right answer after all?
It's been a rough few years for Dell, as competitors like HP and Apple have been chomping away at its market position and its stock is 40% off the highs it hit back late 2004. It got bad enough that early this year Michael Dell stepped back in as CEO after stepping down in 2004.
Based on the stock price at least, it'd be hard to call 2007 an extraordinary success as the stock is roughly flat for the year. Dell (Michael that is) has been active, though, and is bringing some interesting changes to the company. In the Spring the company announced that it would start selling computers at Wal-Mart, and since then it has announced that it will be entering other retailers, including Best Buy.
But what really caught my eye was a write-up by Walter Mossberg in today's Wall Street Journal (subscription required). Dell's computers have been known as a lot of things: efficient, cost effective, timely. Mossberg's description of the new Dell XPS One desktop as "an elegant, handsome, cleverly designed one-piece computer," however, is not a portrait typically associated with a Dell computer.
So it looks like Dell could be righting the ship, but will this be reflected in Dell's stock any time soon? The stock carries an unimpressive two star rating on CAPS and has more than its share of critics. Some of CAPS top players can be found among the Dell bulls, though. Carstenjansing likes the Michael Dell angle and said that the "founder [is] at the helm again, turning things around." SandyRN, who's been a Dell bull for even longer, said that Dell has a "good business model" and thinks that the stock is undervalued to boot.
So what do you think? Head over to CAPS and chime in.
(Full disclosure: I do not have a financial position in any of the companies mentioned.)
