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DELL

Dell Inc.

6/19/2013, 4:23 PM ET

Quote & Headlines Market Currents StockTalk

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Wednesday, June 19, 4:03 PM "Nothing has changed regarding the financing ... We expect to have [$5.2B] in the next couple of weeks ... I would provide [$2B], if necessary." Thus speaks Carl Icahn, addressing reports he's struggling to line up financing for his Dell (DELL -0.6%) bid and making a case for his new $14/share tender offer. Unsurprisingly, Dell's special committee isn't enthusiastic about the tender, and says it's still waiting on requested info about Icahn's leveraged recap proposal. Some think Icahn's real motivation is getting Michael Dell/Silver Lake to sweeten their offer. "Icahn is historically known for looking for dislocations," observes one Dell shareholder. Comment! [Tech, M&A]
Tuesday, June 18, 1:07 PM Carl Icahn has bought 72M Dell (DELL +0.4%) shares from would-be buyout partner Southeastern Asset (half its stake), and is proposing a $14/share tender offer for 62% of Dell's outstanding shares (1.1B shares). The Southeastern deal makes Icahn Dell's largest outside shareholder. Dell, whose shareholder vote on Michael Dell/Silver Lake's LBO offer remains set for July 18, has edged higher to $13.45. (previous) 3 Comments [Tech, M&A]
Monday, June 17, 2:03 PM Of Dell's (DELL +0.2%) top 21 shareholders, investors owning 18.2% of outstanding shares have signaled their opposition to Michael Dell/Silver Lake's LBO offer, per a spreadsheet created by AllThingsD's Arik Heseldahl. With Michael Dell (13.86% stake) not allowed to vote, the deal needs the backing of ~42% of shares to go through. Hesseldahl notes advisory firms ISS and Glass Lewis haven't yet weighed in, and that their opinions will have a big impact on how index funds owning over 16% of shares end up voting. (Icahn/Dell) Comment! [Tech, M&A]
Friday, June 14, 2:47 PM Odds are growing Carl Icahn and Southeastern Asset will drop their bid for Dell (DELL -0.4%), David Faber reports. Icahn is said to be worried about his ability to raise another $2B in financing. The NY Post reports Icahn recently told potential lenders a financing package set to be finished by today has been delayed, as he tries to strengthen it to address a $3.9B shortfall brought up by Dell's special committee last week. A revised funding package could reportedly be presented next week. Dell shares are 2% below Michael Dell/Silver Lake's $13.65 LBO price. (previous) 1 Comment [Tech, M&A]
Wednesday, June 12, 5:15 PM Dell (DELL) declares $0.08/share quarterly dividend, in line with previous. Forward yield 2.39 %. For shareholders of record July 1. Payable July 22.Ex-div date June 27(PR) Comment! [Dividends]
Friday, June 7, 5:41 PM Carl Icahn and Southeastern Asset have created a shortlist of candidates to replace Michael Dell should their bid for his company (DELL) succeed, Reuters reports. The list bears a strong resemblance to the one former bidder Blackstone created. Oracle president Mark Hurd is on it (even though he claims to be uninterested), and so is former Compaq CEO Michael Capellas, ex-IBM services chief Michael Daniels, and H-P PC chief Todd Bradley. Icahn has already declared "Michael Dell will not be running the company" if his bid wins out. 2 Comments [Tech]
Wednesday, June 5, 2:15 PM A $3.9B funding shortfall could lead the $12/share special dividend attached to Carl Icahn and Southeastern Asset's bid for Dell (DELL -0.1%) to fall to $8.50-$9.35/share, argues Dell's special committee in a presentation justifying its rejection of the offer in favor of Michael Dell/Silver Lake's $13.65/share deal. The committee argues Icahn/Southeastern are underestimating minimum cash needs by $1.7B, and ignoring the need for $1.4B in cash for maturing debt. The presentation amusingly tries to paint as bleak a picture as possible for Dell, highlighting its PC share losses, declining margins, relatively low R&D spend, and x86 server pricing risks (in spite of recent share gains). Shareholders vote on July 18. 11 Comments [Tech]
Friday, May 31, 6:56 AM Dell (DELL) issues a letter to shareholders recommending a yes vote on the Michael Dell-Silver Lake offer to acquire the company for $13.65 per share. 6 Comments [Tech, M&A]
Wednesday, May 29, 2:09 PM Global server sales fell 5% Y/Y in Q1, says Gartner. That's a reversal from Q4's 5% growth, and evidence of both weak IT spending and a shift towards cheaper hardware. #1 IBM, whose hardware unit had an ugly Q1, saw its revenue share fall 250 bps Y/Y to 25.5%. #2 H-P (HPQ), hurt by crumbling Itanium server demand, saw its share fall 280 bps to 25%, and #5 Oracle (ORCL), hit hard by plunging UNIX server sales, saw a 130 bps drop to 4.6%. But #3 Dell's (DELL) share rose 310 bps to 18%, and Cisco (CSCO) cracked the unit share top-5 at 2.3%. The buying habits of Internet companies led non-top-5 vendors to make up 22% of sales, up 370 bps. Sales of x86 servers (mostly INTC-based) grew 1.8%, down from Q4's 6.6%. (IDC's Q4 data) 3 Comments [Tech]
Tuesday, May 28, 1:22 PM IDC has again raised its tablet forecasts: the firm now expects shipments to grow 58.7% in 2013 to 229.3M units. That's up from a March forecast of 190.9M units, which itself was up from a forecast of 172.4M. 55% of shipments are expected to involve sub-8" tablets vs. 27% in 2012. With IDC estimating Q1 shipments rose 142% Y/Y to 49.2M, further hikes don't seem far-fetched. Meanwhile, following a 13.9% Y/Y drop in Q1, IDC now expects PC shipments to fall 7.8% Y/Y in 2013 to 321.9M, and predicts tablet sales will outpace PC sales by 2015. Revenue crossover could take longer, given IDC forecasts a 2013 tablet ASP of $381, and a PC ASP of $635. AAPL and GOOG must be pleased, MSFT, INTC, AMD, DELL, and HPQ less so. 16 Comments [Tech]
Thursday, May 23, 5:12 PM Carl Icahn and Southeastern Asset Management have initiated talks with banks and asset managers to line up commitments for as much as $7B in bridge loans to back their leveraged recapitalization proposal for Dell (DELL), Reuters reports. Icahn and Southeastern are looking to lock in the financing before Dell shareholders meet in July to vote on a rival offer from CEO Michael Dell and Silver Lake Partners. Comment! [Tech]
Thursday, May 23, 11:11 AM The broad selloff isn't touching H-P (HPQ +14.2%) following last night's earnings. Jefferies' Peter Misek weighs in with an upgrade from Sell to Hold. He praises H-P for having the discipline to sacrifice PC market share to retain profitability (unlike DELL; Whitman (transcript): "Maybe that's what you do when you're about to go private.") Misek also likes the cash flow guidance of $7.5B - "(it) materially changed our view of H-P margin, cash flow, and EPS prospects." 2 Comments [Tech, On the Move]
Wednesday, May 22, 12:51 PM Avoid names with hefty PC, server, or printer exposure, says Goldman, lowering its 2013 PC shipment forecast to -6.8% from -3.8% and - pointing at DELL's earnings - warning pockets of price aggression at OEMs could spread. Making the list are sell-rated: HPQ, LXK, and QLGC. H-P reports after the bell. 5 Comments [Tech]
Monday, May 20, 6:50 PM Google (GOOG) roundup: 1) YouTube's video upload rate has passed 100 hours per minute. That's up from 72 hours last year, and 48 the year before. The milestone comes as YouTube expands live streaming support, and announces plans to unify its design across devices/platforms. 2) In July, Dell (DELL) will begin selling Project Ophelia, a $100 USB flash drive-shaped device that allows any monitor with an HDMI port to be turned into an Android PC. Dell is also working on "a keyboard-like technology for users to type when Ophelia is docked to a screen." 6 Comments [Tech]
Monday, May 20, 7:30 AM DELL's board sends another letter to Carl Icahn and Southeastern Asset Management, reiterating its need for more details on their purchase proposal, i.e. how they plan to finance it. "Unless we receive information that is responsive to our May 13 letter, we are not in a position to evaluate whether your proposal (is superior to Dell and Sliver Lake's). Comment! [M&A, Tech]
Thursday, May 16, 6:14 PM Dell (DELL) has "aligned" its pricing strategy to match a competitive environment, says CFO Brian Gladden during the FQ1 call, explaining the mixed results. He also states Dell repaid ~$2B in debt. The services unit is seeing both rising infrastructure/cloud/security sales (+11% Y/Y), and slumping application/BPO sales (-15%). Networking sales +24%, as Force10 continues gaining share. Asia-Pac sales -12% Y/Y (share loss to Lenovo/Asus?), worse than FQ4's -9%. But EMEA -2% vs. -14%, and Americas +1% vs. -10%. (slides) (live blog) (sales breakdown) Comment! [Tech]

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