"Why Expectations Matter"
By Cody Willard
RealMoney.com Contributor
11/22/2006 9:34 AM EST
"The action and setup of Dell (DELL - commentary - Cramer's Take - Rating) into last night's earnings report turned out to be a classic example of why expectations matter so much in the market.
I can't remember how long it's been since Dell had a good quarter. Miss, warning, miss, warning had gotten to be a pattern at this company. And if there's one thing people in the market like to do, it's extrapolate trends into the forever. So the market was ready for another miss and warning from little ol' defenseless Dell.
And miss, Dell did -- at least on the top line, as least as far as we can tell. Management there has had so many problems trying to give investors accurate, straightforward numbers that the company doesn't really give a full report with the actual balance sheet and other numbers in it. I don't know about you, but as an investor, I like to see that information.
Yet, Dell is up nearly 10% this morning and up a good bit from its recent lows. Why? The single biggest reason for such a positive stock reaction is that expectations had gotten so low, and Wall Street had extrapolated even worse results than Dell reported. As Bob Faulkner points out in Columnist Conversation this morning, Dell earnings look like they were strong, though that's largely because of more stock-buyback games. And so Dell pops on the news.
I don't think the same case can be made about low expectations in the general market. I'm still treading more lightly than I was last week. "
(in www.realmoney.com)
By Cody Willard
RealMoney.com Contributor
11/22/2006 9:34 AM EST
"The action and setup of Dell (DELL - commentary - Cramer's Take - Rating) into last night's earnings report turned out to be a classic example of why expectations matter so much in the market.
I can't remember how long it's been since Dell had a good quarter. Miss, warning, miss, warning had gotten to be a pattern at this company. And if there's one thing people in the market like to do, it's extrapolate trends into the forever. So the market was ready for another miss and warning from little ol' defenseless Dell.
And miss, Dell did -- at least on the top line, as least as far as we can tell. Management there has had so many problems trying to give investors accurate, straightforward numbers that the company doesn't really give a full report with the actual balance sheet and other numbers in it. I don't know about you, but as an investor, I like to see that information.
Yet, Dell is up nearly 10% this morning and up a good bit from its recent lows. Why? The single biggest reason for such a positive stock reaction is that expectations had gotten so low, and Wall Street had extrapolated even worse results than Dell reported. As Bob Faulkner points out in Columnist Conversation this morning, Dell earnings look like they were strong, though that's largely because of more stock-buyback games. And so Dell pops on the news.
I don't think the same case can be made about low expectations in the general market. I'm still treading more lightly than I was last week. "
(in www.realmoney.com)