Friday, August 29, 2008

Dell + Banana Peel = Ouch

Dell is trading down over 10% in the premarket after missing earnings estimates last night.

Dell has had a nice move from around $20 to $25+ but it's not like it has been hitting home runs lately. This long-term turnaround story apparently hasn't fully turned around yet.

What is intriguing is that it seems like everyone who cared to comment on the Dell quarter in the last month was expecting upside. No so fast.

The miss and investor reaction highlights the difficulty for both company execs and analysts to predict short-term results for publicly traded companies. Investors naturally have the same difficulty, if not more. I have written in the last 6 months that I am optimistic about Dell's prospects longer term, but the short term is just too hard.

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