Rick Sherlund Growth Quotations

There is an increasing risk that Microsoft might atrophy on the PC platform as IBM did on the mainframe platform, while robust growth shifts to hand-held and wireless devices,

Oracle has an August quarter, so we are more compelled to cut estimates now, ... Siebel is September, so we could wait, but the numbers just look too optimistic. Given cost reductions, the EPS cut for Oracle is small, but the growth rates for Siebel are much faster, so EPS reductions more significant.

Oracle has an August quarter, so we are more compelled to cut estimates now. Siebel is September, so we could wait, but the numbers just look too optimistic. Given cost reductions, the EPS cut for Oracle is small, but the growth rates for Siebel are much faster, so EPS reductions more significant.

I think the Street's trying to figure out what is the long-term growth rate here,

Microsoft's market cap right now is $208 billion. If you were to combine Ford and General Motors market cap(s) . . . that would only equal half of (Microsoft's) market cap. Granted, (Microsoft) by far is the premier growth company in the world today. But again, it is trading at 60 times earnings,

We are reducing our March quarter revenue estimate due to growing evidence that PC unit growth did not likely come up to our expectations. PC growth was very sluggish from November through February, and while it reaccelerated in March, it does not appear to have occurred fast enough to offset the weakness earlier in the quarter.

We are encouraged by this and have raised estimates, essentially back to earlier levels. While the stock is richly valued and the growth is still well below historic levels, we believe there is a good flow of upcoming new products and the shares are likely a relative safe harbor.

We trimmed estimates last week to reflect even more sluggish PC demand, the potential for slower server growth and slower on-line advertising for MSN,