Quotes by Arnie Berman

“Consolidation activity is actually a signal that service providers are scared and will start spending money again. Equipment companies are long-term beneficiaries of this and frankly, I think thats what the bond market is smelling out,”

“The bond market is keenly aware that cash flows have improved and that the chances of investors getting back money they are owed is better. Thats not at all irrelevant to stockholders,”

“This recent wave of merger news provides some of the strongest evidence yet that companies are willing to do some long-term planning. The kind of deals getting announced not just bolt-on acquisitions but transformational deals,”

“Sun has not gotten its cost structure under control and is more of a strategic muddle.”

“Youve had a narrow group of tech companies that have been delivering positive and accelerating growth characteristics and money tends to get concentrated in those few companies that are doing that.”

“At this point, boring makes for an interesting fourth quarter. I think this years losers win. The stuff that people chucked from their portfolios is what they will want back.”

“Clearly there are a lot of industries in tech that are just begging to be consolidated. So the question is not whether the pace of M&A picks up in 2005 but whether it will represent a breaking of the dam.”

“In the late 90s investors believed that tech was such a great secular growth story that cycles didnt matter. In this rebound, the only thing that matters is the economic context.”

“Theres no unilateral belief about tech stocks. People are confused and somewhat justifiably.”

“A lot of the best news is associated with the PC industry. Intel has been not just a bellwether in the sense that its big, but in the sense that technology as an industry has returned to positive year-over-year growth rates, and technology as an industry tends to be delivering more upside surprises than downside surprises these days. Intel started to do that earlier and more substantially than the rest of technology.”