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New Wounds Delay Dell's Recovery

Scott Moritz

A new year has brought new stumbles for Dell (DELL Quote).

It looks like Dell investors hoping for a recovery will have to wait even longer as buying trends and product strategies continue to work against the No.2 PC shop. In a big no-confidence vote, AmTech Research slapped Dell with a downgrade to sell from neutral Monday.

AmTech says investors are probably safer watching Dell's turnaround drama at a great distance since checks by the analysts reveal a "significant shortfall" in PC industry production this quarter. That update isn't good news, considering the group is coming off an extremely low base in the prior quarter.

"Dell faces multiple headwinds," AmTech's Dinesh Moorjani wrote in his research note. In fact, after testing the ill winds of the consumer market, AmTech also handed out new sell ratings to other giants, including Amazon (AMZN Quote), Nokia (NOK Quote) and Garmin (GRMN Quote).

Dell's downgrade comes just days after the company turned in a weak performance last week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Not only did the Round Rock, Texas, firm offer little if any promising devices, it's heavily hyped luxury laptop the Adamo was still in development. To be sure, a prototype was held aloft for distant viewing, but having no working models available gives it a whiff of vapor.

When the super-sleek Adamo does arrive, it will be targeted not at the lower-cost so-called netbook segment that is eating Dell's business, but instead at Apple's (AAPL Quote) premium MacBook line up. Luxury plans seem curious as cheap, small notebooks from Asus, MSI and Acer have been among the fastest-growing sales segments in computers of late. The less-encumbered lower-price gadgets have found a good fit as consumers look to tighten budgets.

Some analysts, including Kaufman's Shaw Wu, see Dell's continued missteps as evidence that the company has lost its way. The onetime pioneer of the direct-sale build-to-order model has been struggling to become more of an indirect retail supplier with a contract manufacturing approach.

Perhaps in a sign that the wheels are still spinning, Dell last month, shuffled out some top managers and announced a restructuring of its business units along four customer segments.

One shiny parachute raised eyebrows. Operations chief Mike Cannon was given a $10 million severance package and will serve for two years as a $1.5 million consultant to Dell. The costly exit prompted some, including TheStreet.com's Mike Goodman, to suggest that Dell needs to consider a dividend as a better use of its $8.5 billion in cash.

Dell shares fell 4.2% Monday to close at $10.65 and are down 50% over the past year.