The market is sometimes very kind to alert investors, and those on the ball about the threat to IBM’s business from Hitachi Ltd’s intentions in combination with Electronic Data Systems Corp and Comparex Informationssysteme GmbH have not had to be particularly fleet of foot to make a tidy turn by selling IBM shares short: the Hitachi-EDS story broke on February 27, and IBM’s shares perversely ended that day up a shade at $121.625; as recently as Monday last week they still closed at $121.50 before the news of the delays on some TCMs for the 3090 S models – reported here on February 18 – finally reached the market, and by Thursday night they were down at $118, and it is difficult to see any near-term upside because the price still hasn’t seriously discounted the impact that the Hitachi-EDS deal is likely to have.
