Stocks: (EMC)(IBM)(DELL)(HPQ)
EMC has been on the outs with Wall St. for a long time. Over the last five years the S&P is up about 50%. Other big techs are up, with HP rising over 60% since late 2001. EMC is down close to 25%.
Finally, it appears that the company is making headway in its core storage business. EMC had the fastest revenue growth among major storage companies in Q3. Its share rose to 21.4% from 20% a year ago. Revenue grew 18% for the third quarter. In the second quarter, EMC revenue growth lagged significantly at only 3%.
EMC also put more distance between itself and the second place firm, Its share fell from 19% in last year’s thrid quarter to 17.4%.
IBM and Dell took the third and fourth places, but their market shares did not move much.
IDC puts the storage market at $4.3 billion in the third quarter, so EMC’s share has tremendous value to the company’s topline. Perhaps more important, it is an indication that the company’s large core business is growing again. It does not have other huge operations like IBM, HP, and Dell do, so its fate is more closely tied to storage.
That being the case, EMC’s shareholders may be happy for the first time in a long time.
Douglas A. McIntyre can be reached at [email protected]. He does not own securities in companies that he writes about.