SAN FRANCISCO (CNN/Money) -
On message. That's Dell.
The computer industry's most consistent company perfectly captured the zeitgeist Thursday in its third-quarter earnings conference call. Dell's slides (view them yourself here; they're interesting) are littered with the word "up."
As in marketshare up, notebook sales up, printer shipments up.
Some things are down, of course. Like profit margins and average selling prices. But only by a bit.
| Recently by Adam Lashinsky
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And one metric was neither down nor up, but rather the same: Dell was lukewarm on the level of demand by corporate information-technology buyers. That is what the market seemed to key in on with its swoon on Friday.
Where Dell stands out
And yet you can't completely blame Dell for the market decline. Dell's decline (0.8 percent) was smaller than the Nasdaq's (1.9 percent) and right around the Dow's (0.7 percent). (See "Taking a breather" by my colleague Paul La Monica on why good news may not be enough to lift the Nasdaq higher.)
Listen to the market. It's telling you it thinks Dell simply is better than the rest of tech. Which is exactly what Dell thinks.
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My favorite example of Dell keeping to its message is how it presents its foray into consumer electronics. On the one hand, in order to hype its new product lines of LCD TVs, MP3 players and PDAs, Dell is happy to play ball with USA Today, Time and even Fortune.
But as I noted in a recent article in Fortune, where you'll find TVs on Dell's Web site says a lot about how Dell views the opportunity. The consumer gadgets are listed under "software and peripherals," not home electronics or somesuch category you might expect.
The message: Dell goes into new product lines slowly, prudently, with relatively little fanfare and with great discipline. And it reminds you every step of the way where the glory is, namely in its business of selling computers and storage devices to big businesses.
Dell also does a great job of dissing the competition. One of its keys to success long has been making equipment that runs only on standard equipment, typically Intel processors and Microsoft software. Critics say Dell skimps on R&D, but the approach has helped Dell stay lean.
In his presentation, Dell President Kevin Rollins bragged how Dell compares favorably to "companies stuck in the middle" whose muddled strategies are leading to inferior financial performance.
Dell doesn't name names, but the targets are clear. Sun Microsystems, IBM and Hewlett-Packard each sell a combination of equipment that run on proprietary software and hardware as well as industry-standard equipment.
Plenty of investors were disappointed with Dell for reporting results that merely were what was expected. That's probably as good as it gets for the time being, at least when the hopes for one company are so high.
Adam Lashinsky is a senior writer for Fortune magazine. Send e-mail to Adam at lashinskysbottomline@yahoo.com.
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