On a trading day when traders are buying into the vacuums left by yesterday's 500-point (on the Dow) sell-off, Dell, Inc. (DELL) announced that consumers are cutting back on tech spending, causing DELL shares to tumble precipitously.  Down about 9% as of mid-day, DELL is down to $16 and change.

This is from an already steep fall in August after the company missed estimates for its July quarter, when Dell was trading over $24 per share.  But this lower guidance from the company seems in line with analysts -- 16 of whom have downwardly revised estimates in the past month, and 19 who have done so for fiscal 2009 (ending January).

Before today's announcement, Dell's year-over-year growth estimate was +11% for the third quarter and 22% for the fourth.  We'll see if estimates begin to come down from here, and if so, by how much.  Zacks senior analyst Steve Biggs, CFA

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Ahead of the trading floor opening this morning, top tech retailer Apple, Inc. (AAPL) has given reason for investors to expect an attractive shakeup to its product line today, whether introducing new iPod features or perhaps lowering prices.  Shares are actually down 1.5% in the pre-market, so apparently there is still very little to go on.

Estimates ahead of the company's September quarter (Q3) have been relatively stable to this point.  The Zacks consensus for Apple is currently $1.11 per share for the quarter, and $5.22 per share for fiscal year 2008.

In his most recent research report on Apple, Inc., Zacks senior tech industry analyst Steve Biggs, CFA maintained his Hold on the shares.  Perhaps today's shakeup -- whatever it is -- will prompt a closer look and some sort of revision, but for now the analyst had this to say: "iPod revenue is clearly slowing, which will have a

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With tech stocks continuing their rollercoaster ride in the markets, we thought some expertise in how to best deal with them would come in handy. Enter Steve Biggs, CFA, senior technology industry analyst for Zacks Equity Research.

With projected weakness in the consumer segment continuing, do you see tougher times ahead for tech stocks under your coverage?

Most companies in the IT sector derive the bulk of their revenue from the enterprise market, followed by government and small and medium businesses. Although the consumer has been weak this year, enterprise spending has held up relatively well, and second quarter results confirmed this.

The exception has been that industries that sell to consumers have been weak. For example, companies that sell into the retail industry have shown some weakness. Although consumer weakness could spill over into other areas as well, falling energy prices make me optimistic that consumer spending will

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An AP report out of South Korea today reports that Korean semiconductor giant Samsung is moving to acquire U.S.-based SanDisk (SNDK), which specializes in making flash memory cards.  The report did not cite a buyout price, but SanDisk shares left yesterday's closing price in the dust, racing up over 27%, or about $3.70 per share.

SanDisk is a company with several problems, including a negative earnings outlook and a recent S&P investment downgrade.  Samsung, which already supplies NAND flash memory chips to SanDisk made the offer when SNDK was wallowing at its 52-week low.  Even today's jump to over $17 per share is a far cry from when SanDisk was trading at $56 per share just over a year ago.

So while Samsung looks to be getting a good deal, Zacks senior tech industry analyst Steve Biggs, CFA does not see good things in SanDisk's near-term outlook.  Before today's announcement, he

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In a report from Reuters citing a Wall Street Journal article this morning, Dell, Inc. (DELL), once a leading U.S. computer maker, has decided to sell off "most, possibly all" of its computer factories within the next 18 months.  Cutting costs and improving profitability were named as the two major goals, as desktop computers Dell has specialized in have now been overtaken by laptops.

Dell has stumbled in a rough patch recently, missing 2nd-quarter (ended July) earnings estimates, and seeing a flurry of analyst estimate revisions head downward.  In just the past week, 11 analysts have lowered earnings expectations for the October quarter, and 14 have done so for fiscal year 2009 (ending January).

Zacks senior tech analyst Steve Biggs, CFA has also noted his disappointment in recent Dell results, telling me in an interview just completed (due to be published Monday, the 8th): "Trouble occurred for Dell as [the company]

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Reporting revenues of just over $2 billion in its fiscal third quarter (ended July), Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) demonstrated strength in its laptop sales.  Results moderately beat analysts' estimates, marking the fourth consecutive quarter HP has moderately beaten estimates.

In pre-market trading, HPQ shares are up 3.5%, or about $1.50 per share.  Will bargain-shopping traders keep HP buoyed throughout today's trading, or will the acknowledged headwinds Hewlett-Packard will be facing in upcoming quarters keep downward pressure on the share price?

Analysts in general have been quite dormant in earnings estimate revisions for the past several weeks.  This speaks to the relative steadiness of how HP has run its business, though Zacks senior technology analyst Steve Biggs, CFA had earlier this week downgraded HP shares (click here to access report) from Buy to Hold:

"First, HPQ's acquisition of EDS should close shortly, [which] adds a slower growth company to its revenue base. Next, although

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