Don’t give up on the computer industry is the message to investors from analysts at Salomon Brothers Inc, New York. They may be talking their book, but they reckon that personal computer-related stocks will represent the most significant technology growth sector during the next decade. That’s the theme of their Third Annual Salomon Brothers Desktop Computing Conference, a two-day bash for institutional investors that ended yesterday. In a Salomon research report distributed to conference attendees at the start of the event, analysts Michele Preston, Katherine Norton and Mary Meeker presented their personal computer industry recommendations in three areas of the industry. In the hardware sector, the team recommends Compaq Computer Corp, Apple Computer Corp and Tandy Corp. In software, they recommend Microsoft Corp and Lotus Development Corp, and in distribution, the pick of the bunch are seen to be Businessland Inc, Inacomp Computer Centers Inc and Corporate Software. Many of you believe that investing in technology is like walking in a minefield, Ms Preston told investors during her welcoming remarks. But if you don’t invest in the PC sector, you’ll be missing some great opportunities. She noted that some stocks in the sector have significanly outperformed the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index since the October 1987 market crash. Compaq Computer is up 87%, Microsoft is up 93%, and she sees attractive investment opportunities in all four categories of the personal computing sector: hardware manufacturers, software development, peripherals and distribution. At the threshold of the next decade, the computer industry appears to be poised to undergo the most significant transition in its history, Ms Preston said, admitting that her assertion might appear to be an overstatement given the dramatic advances that have occurred in the industry during the past 50 years, but the potential impact of the PC revolution has just started to emerge. She reckons that more than 40m personal computers have been sold since 1976, when the first personal computers (in the US – France had them three years earlier) were introduced by Tandy Corp, Apple and Commodore International Ltd, and that they have changed the way that people work.
