Ticker Shock: Dell Ready for Reboot; Uncle Sam Invades Citi

My big plans this weekend: ice-skating with the family.

People, I have to tell you that I’m not too fond of ice-skating. Actually I hate that super-skinny, one-sixteenth-inch blade they expect me balance on - on ice, no less. It’s ridiculous. On the other hand, give me a pair of roller skates, toss on some '70s music and put up a limbo stick and forget it, I’m your man.

Asian stocks were a mixed bag. The Hang Seng closed down a little more than half a percent, and the Nikkei was up almost 1.5%. Meanwhile earlier this morning European stocks were in the red. And here in the US, S&P futures are currently trading down 2.25%

Here’s what’s got my eye today:

Dell (DELL):
 Check out the headline for its fourth-quarter earnings release: “Sharp Cost Reductions and Operational Execution Highlight Dell's Fiscal Fourth-Quarter Results”

Sounds super cool, right?

Unfortunately, what was in the release didn’t seem as exciting.

Excluding items, it earned $0.29 a share in the period. That was better than the $0.26 a share that analysts had been expecting. However, I think a lot of eyes will be drawn to its sales line, which came in a bit over $13.4 billion. See, analysts had been looking for almost $14.2 billion on the top line. Plus, its gross margins took a bit of a smack as well.

To its credit, Dell hasn’t curled up in the fetal position. In fact, the following lines in the release caught my attention:

“We said last March that we would reduce costs by $3 billion annually by the end of fiscal 2011,' said Brian Gladden, Dell’s chief financial officer. 'The cost actions we took this past year made us more competitive and delivered value to customers in a challenging economic environment... In fact, we now have a clear view to additional opportunities, and are raising our cost-reduction target to $4 billion." 

I don’t think that good news should be glossed over.

Long story short, I think there's a question mark here when it comes to the near-term. As you know, things are tough out there. But I do think the shares will mount a comeback down the road.

By the way, take a look at the insider data on the company and see how hip-deep Michael Dell is into this stock.  I think he’s got a pretty good incentive to find ways to get the share price a-rockin', if you ask me.

Gap Inc. (GPS):
 Seriously, this store was like the coolest thing going when I was in high school.

The well-known retailer was out with its fourth-quarter numbers.  It earned $0.34 a share, which was down a hair from the $0.35 it put up in the comparable period the year before. However, the number was $0.02 better than what analysts had been expecting.

Another thing that caught my eye in the release: “During the fourth quarter, the company repurchased 12.2 million shares for a total of $146 million.”

By now, most of you out there probably know that buybacks often get my motor running, so needless to say, I viewed that as a positive as well.

But I would have liked a good dose of forward-looking earnings guidance. Come on management - give me something good to chew on!