E-M-C Ya

• Email
• Share
• Print

Yesterday EMC (NYSE: EMC) announced it will miss previously stated revenue and earnings estimates. The broader tech market found itself tumbling lower on the news as investors began to worry about what's ahead for tech in the just-kicked-off earnings season.

I think that fellow Fool Tim Beyers hit the nail on the head in his article yesterday. The fact that the storage systems maker will whiff on earnings because it wasn't able to meet demand smacks more of sloppy execution at EMC than a bad market for tech companies overall. In fact, the truth may be quite the opposite: EMC did see strong demand, it just didn't have the wherewithal to capitalize on it.

EMC competes with a wide cast of characters, including the likes of Sun (Nasdaq: SUNW), IBM (NYSE: IBM), Network Appliance (Nasdaq: NTAP), Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ), and Symantec's (Nasdaq: SYMC) VERITAS division. It has seen its stock take a tumble recently over concerns about the price it paid for RSA Security (Nasdaq: RSAS). EMC acquired RSA in a move to put a stake in the ground on the security side, but many feel the 22% premium is just too rich. In addition, the normal concerns over successfully completing and integrating a multibillion dollar acquisition have come into play.

But back to EMC's situation in relation to the broader tech environment -- I think it ends up sounding a lot like my high school dating experience, "It's not you -- it's me." Friday, the company will have to officially face the music when it reports, but the heat really starts to get turned up on tech next week with Yahoo! reporting on Tuesday, followed by Apple, eBay, Juniper, and Qualcomm on Wednesday, and then AMD, Broadcom, Google, Microsoft, and Nokia on Thursday. Despite the EMC fumble, the pre-announced miss from AMD, and the general market chatter of a slowing economy, the fact that there haven't been all that many major earnings pre-announcements could bode well for what's to come for tech this earnings season.

For more EMC antics:

• EMC Eludes Expectations
• EMC Does an Expensive Deal
• EMC Expands Its Reach
• Is EMC Eeeeeewwwww?

Symantec and Microsoft are Inside Value recommendations. eBay is a Stock Advisor recommendation. Check out either or both newsletters with a 30-day free trial.

Fool contributor Matt Koppenheffer loves earnings season but urges all investors to keep their hands and arms inside the boat at all times as we head into these choppy waters. He currently holds shares in Google but has no financial interest in any other companies mentioned in this article. The Fool has an ironclad disclosure policy.