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Tablets to hurt PC makers
Bloomberg, Dec 11, 2010, 04.51pm

NEW YORK: Investors should buy bearish Dell Inc options because the third-largest personal-computer may drop as rising sales of tablets such as Apple Inc iPad hurt personal computer sales, Morgan Stanley said.

Equity derivatives strategists Christopher Metli and Sivan Mahadevan recommended buying January 2012 $12.50 puts while selling that month's $10 puts, a strategy known as a put spread that cuts the cost of the trade while capping potential profit.

Dell rose 2.5 percent to $13.99 as of 12:05 p.m. in New York, paring this year's loss to 2.6 per cent. The trade breaks even if the stock falls to $11.72, the strategists wrote.

"The market underestimates impending hits to Dell's earnings and valuation," the New York-based strategists wrote yesterday, citing Morgan Stanley technology industry analyst Katy Huberty's Dec 6 report. Huberty has an "underweight" rating on Round Rock, Texas-based Dell.

Risks include "cannibalization of PCs by tablets" and slowing PC and server sales next year, Huberty's report said. Profit may fall 3 per cent in 2011 from this year because of slower revenue growth and narrower profit margins, she wrote.

"About two-thirds of Dell's revenue and half of its operating income base are at risk from moderating PC and server growth in C2011," Huberty wrote in a Dec 6 report. "Dell's PC business faces major headwinds from desktop virtualization and tablet adoption in C2011, which may pressure Dell's model as PCs account for over half of its revenue and nearly 30% of its operating income."