Dell Off 17%: Mizuho Says Hold; Even Bulls Disheartened
Posted on May 23, 2012 at 10:54 AM EDT
Shares of Dell ( DELL ) are down $2.56, or 17%, at $12.52, this morning after the company last night reported weaker-than-expected fiscal Q1 results, and projected Q2 revenue growth below consensus, and said it had to make changes to its sales strategy amidst what it called a "challenging" economic backdrop for the industry. The company also remarked that consumers had turned more to " alternative" mobile computing devices , sending its notebook PC sales down 13%, year over year. Price targets and estimates are dropping all around this morning, and so far there's one downgrade that I can see, with Mizuho Securities’s Abhey Lamba cutting his rating to Neutral from Buy, and cutting his price target to $15 from $20, writing that Dell is now a “ show-me story ." Lamba sees little reason to wait through the turnaround despite the stock's P/E of just 7.8 times next year's estimate: Despite the low valuation, sales execution issues will take multiple quarters to resolve. Additionally, macro uncertainty will keep weighing on enterprise spending, and the launch of Windows 8 based devices will make the PC space more competitive as many vendors will try to gain market share with their devices. He notes, too, that areas aside from PCs, such as server and networking products, came in below his expectations. Lamba cut his 2013 estimate to $60.24 billion in revenue and $1.94 in EPS from a prior $62 billion and $2.18 per share. Even the bulls sound rather cautious this morning. For example, Trent Neuer with Brean, Murray Carret & Co . reiterates a Buy rating this morning, though he cut his price target to $16 from $21, and removed the stock from the "focus list" at the firm.