Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) used to be the top dog in the computer market. Annual revenue was growing at a reliable double-digit pace, margins were stable, and the entire machine was powered by a well-oiled direct-to-customers manufacturing engine. Now, Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ) has stolen the company's crown, sales have started to shrink on a yearly basis, the margins are slipping, and there seem to be some monkey wrenches in the machinery.
On top of all that, Michael Dell is back in the driver's seat as CEO, since Kevin Rollins couldn't stop all of these negative trends. And accounting problems have led to a third consecutive late SEC filing, as an audit committee continues to reconsider several years' worth of financial statements on the demerits of improper stock option grants in the late 1990s. If you want what limited numbers the company was able to supply, here's our official Foolish look.
The Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ) keeps pushing back the filing deadline, and the current position is that Dell's stock will remain listed until a review panel concludes its investigation of the original delisting notice. Dell has until May 4 to submit any further materials for that process, but in reality, it's too big of a company to actually get kicked off the exchange.
More than $550 million worth of Dell shares change hands on an average day, so if tiny Krispy Kreme (NYSE:KKD) with its $11 million daily average volume was allowed to stay listed on the more restrictive NYSE (NYSE:NYX) board for more than a year without filing any 10-Q or 10-K reports, don't expect the hammer to fall on mighty Dell for what has started to look like a routine transgression these days.
Mike Dell and his management team need to spend their time and energy on tinkering with the company's growth engine, and needn't concern themselves too much with the Nasdaq review. It will take plenty of operational grease to get the earnings machine back on track.
For further Foolishness:
- Dell Looks to Get Planted
- So That's How Dell Did It?
- Foolish Forecast: Dell Felled
- Why Do Stock Exchanges Matter?
Dell is both a Motley Fool Inside Value pick and a Stock Advisor selection; the NYSE Group is a Rule Breaker; and Krispy Kreme once was a Stock Advisor recommendation, too. Read all about it with a few free 30-day trial subscriptions.
Fool contributor Anders Bylund holds no position in any of the companies discussed here, but he does enjoy the occasional doughnut or two, and wrote this article on an HP system. You can check out Anders' holdings if you like, and Foolish disclosure is always on top of the ball.
