Dell Computer Corp sent along chief financial officer Thomas Meredith, who reiterated the company’s confidence in the direct-sales market by discussing many of its positive features: direct sales enable the company to keep a reduced inventory, and enable customers to take advantage of component cost reductions much more quickly than they can with companies that sell through retail channels; direct sales also enable Dell’s products to incorporate technology transitions rapidly, and there is a reduced inventory risk, he asserted; Pentium product sales at Dell are quite strong, Meredith said, and he was not phased by the agreement on common hardware by Apple Computer Inc, IBM Corp and Motorola Inc, saying it didn’t shake his belief that Dell will continue to be an industry leader; its advanced systems strategies will include dual processor servers, adding that the company has the courage to complete its plans in this area, but didn’t give a timetable; for future success, Dell needs execution of its strategies, product transition and balanced priorities; the finance chief didn’t discuss the company’s third-quarter results, expected this week, but the the Street consensus this time around is for the company to do 84 cents a share.
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