Nine Takeaways From Goldman Tech Conference

And here they are, Goldman Sachs' hardware analyst Laura Conigliaro’s top nine takeaways for hardware systems stocks, from the company’s tech conference this week in Las Vegas. (Top 9? She’ll obviously never write for Letterman.)

1. EMC (EMC) has probably become the most controversial name in our group.
2. Sun (SUNW) has both more opportunity for margin expansion and a higher likelihood of doing so than any other large company in tech.
3. Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone is beginning to sound less like a product than a multi-year product platform.
4. Software, while only 20% of IBM’s (IBM) business, should continue to add 80-110 [basis points] to IBM’s overall revenue growth.
5. HP’s (HPQ) sobering outlook is inconsistent with the reality of its business.
6. We believe Isilon (ISLN) is already beginning to add fast-growth unannounced customers that should be able to help push its own high growth rate even higher.
7. Both Brocade (BRCD) and Emulex (ELX) should experience better than normal seasonality in [the first quarter].
8. In contrast to recent component tightness seen in some areas in seasonally strong [fourth quarter], we see most components as likely to remain freely available with favorable pricing.
9. The drive business appears to be “boringly seasonal” in [the first quarter].