Based on the aggregated intelligence of 170,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, computer giant Dell
With that in mind, let's take a closer look at Dell's business and see what CAPS investors are saying about the stock right now.
Dell facts
| Headquarters (Founded) | Round Rock, Texas (1984) |
| Market Cap | $27 billion |
| Industry | Computer hardware |
| Trailing-12-Month Revenue | $60.7 billion |
| Management |
Founder/Chairman/CEO Michael Dell CFO Brian Gladden |
| Return on Equity (Average Past 3 Years) | 39% |
| Cash/Debt | $13.38 billion / $6 billion |
| Competitors |
Apple
Hewlett-Packard |
Sources: Capital IQ (a division of Standard & Poor's) and Motley Fool CAPS.
On CAPS, 29% of the 5,595 members who have rated Dell believe the stock will underperform the S&P 500 going forward. These bears include jdhowards and All-Star Jeffreyw, who is ranked in the top 5% of our community.
Late last month, jdhowards showed skepticism about Dell's expansion plans: "They indicate the same late to market mentality that has been more the norm than the exception since Dell's return as CEO. The combination of Public and Enterprise segments to be led by Paul Bell has happened how many times?"
Over the next five years, Dell is even expected to grow at a slower pace (7.2% per annum) than PC foes Apple (20.6%) and Hewlett (11%), as well as rivals in the server space Cisco Systems
CAPS All-Star Jeffreyw elaborates on the bear case:
Dell just hangs on as consumers are less than enthusiastic about incremental technological improvements. They are well positioned with a wide range of products and state of the art manufacturing facilities and processes, costs are well controlled, but there just isn't a lot of discretionary income fueling demand, sales are mostly need based, not impulse buys.
What do you think about Dell, or any other stock for that matter? If you want to retire rich, you need to protect your portfolio from any undue risk. Staying away from dangerous stocks is crucial to securing your financial future, and on Motley Fool CAPS, thousands of investors are working every day to flag them. CAPS is 100% free, so get started!
Fool contributor Brian Pacampara owns no position in any of the companies mentioned. Apple is a Motley Fool Stock Advisor pick, and the Fool has written puts on it. The Fool owns shares of Apple and IBM. The Fool has created a bull call spread position on Cisco, and Motley Fool Alpha owns shares of it. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days.
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