Gartner this morning trimmed its PC growth forecast for the 2010 second half by about 2 percentage points to 15.3%, “in light of the uncertain economic outlook for the United States and Western Europe,” the research firm announced. For the full year, the company says worldwide PC shipments are expected [...]
Article courtesy of BARRONS.com: Tech Trader Daily
So, this was more of less predictable.
Hutchinson Technology (HTCH), which makes suspension assemblies for the disk-drive industry, posted results for its fiscal third quarter ended June 27 which fell short of Street estimates; this followed recent June quarter misses by hard-drive makers Seagate (STX) and Western Digital (WDC).
For the quarter, [...]
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Yet another analyst has taken a hatchet to EPS estimates and price targets for the disk-drive stocks Seagate (STX) and Western Digital (WDC).
BMO Capital analyst Keith Bachman late Thursday repeated his Market Perform ratings on both stocks, while chopping his price targets to $17 from $25 for STX, and to [...]
Article courtesy of BARRONS.com: Tech Trader Daily
Prince (formerly known as the artist formerly known as Prince) who once gave up using the traditional naming system (going by a symbol instead of a word composed of letters from the Western alphabet), has given up on another conventional practice: use of the internet. Yes, the confused 80s pop star believes that the internet will meet the fate of it's oh-so-similar counterpart MTV, which he believes was once “hip” but is now outdated.
Sorry, Prince, but we're going to have to respectfully disagree with you on that one. Unless the internet starts airing episodes of “The Hills” exclusively, we have full confidence that it will be “hip” for years to come. We'll welcome you back on the reality train whenever you're ready to join us.
Article courtesy of Los Angeles | Guest of a Guest – Los Angeles People, Places, Parties & Nightlife
Barclays analyst Ben Reitzes today trimmed his hard-drive unit growth forecast for 2010 to 22%, from 24% – and likewise slicing his EPS estimates for both Western Digital (WDC) and Seagate (STX).
Reitzes writes in a research note that “checks continue to indicate that HDD demand for Q2 is coming in [...]
Article courtesy of BARRONS.com: Tech Trader Daily
Have you always dreamed of running a company but not exactly gotten it together to amass the necessary qualifications? Have you thought it would be pretty cool to really just be the face of some organization (provided it’s not currently taking a little heat for some unfortunate accidents or being accused of harvesting & trafficking aborted baby parts out of its offices on West Street) but not do any heavy lifting behind the scenes? Today is your lucky day, provided you’re Caucasian.
If you’re a white guy in China and you own a suit — Congratulations! You’re hired. There’s an odd trend brewing there, where companies hire fake executives from the U.S. and other Western nations to attend events, give speeches and generally just to give that appearance in the community and in the business world of that connection with the western world.
“I think it says a lot about the business culture here,” said Mitch Moxley, a freelance writer living in Beijing who was hired to be a fake businessman for a high-tech company building a factory in Dongying, five hours south of Beijing. “Face is hugely important in China, and having foreigners in suits I guess gives some credibility to the companies. You’d be amazed how often this happens.” Moxley said he, along with five other guys, was hired to be a “quality-control expert” for $1,000 a week, though it was made clear to him at the time of hiring that they wouldn’t be doing any quality control. The job would entail attending some dinners, going to a ceremony and touring the factory once a day. The rest of the time, he and the other “executives” sat in fly-ridden office, where they slept, read magazines and joked around.
Now Hiring: Fake Executives In China [CNBC
Rent A White Guy [The Atlantic]
Article courtesy of Dealbreaker
Goldman Sachs analyst David Bailey has left the firm, resulting in the suspension of Goldman’s research coverage on a slew of hardware companies pending the appointment of a new analyst to the group.
The stocks Bailey covered include Apple, Dell, EMC, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Lexmark, NetApp, Seagate, Western Digital and 3Par.
“Our [...]
Article courtesy of BARRONS.com: Tech Trader Daily
Article courtesy of Los Angeles | Guest of a Guest – Los Angeles People, Places, Parties & Nightlife
Nokia (NOK) this morning said it has sued Apple (AAPL) in federal court for the Western District of Wisconsion – Wisconsin? – alleging the iPhone and iPad 3G infringe five Nokia patents.
Nokia says the patents relate to “enhanced speech and data transmission, using positioning data in applications and innovations [...]
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Shares of both Seagate Technology (STX) and Western Digital (WDC) are trading lower today, in the wake of somewhat bearish sentiment from Wedbush Securities. Analyst Kaushik Roy downgraded both of the hard-disk drive makers to Neutral from Outperform.
“We want to take some profits and reduce exposure to HDDs as we
enter the seasonally soft June quarter,” Roy writes. “Inventories are not bloated at this time, but are starting to creep up and the directional change may make investors more cautious at this time.”
Over the last year, shares of Seagate are up 191%, with Western Digital stock up 89%. The Nasdaq, by comparison has risen 48%.
Roy’s new price targets are $23 for Seagate (from $25) and $48 for Western Digital (from $55).
In today’s trading:
Article courtesy of BARRONS.com: Tech Trader Daily