To discuss the battered stocks in the high-tech sector, Business Week's guests on July 28 were Vadim Zlotnikov, senior research analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. in New York, an expert watcher of tech stocks, and Ira Sager, BW's computers editor, who wrote "Don't Log Off High Tech Just Yet" as part of the July 29 BW cover package on the stock market.
Here's a sample from the transcript:
JackBW: And now Walmarc brings us to the Big MS.
Question: What is the future of Microsoft? Will its earnings get hit because of piracy in Asia and a high dollar?
ZVadim: Microsoft is spending a substantial amount of money on battling the piracy. Even if this prevents only 10% to 20% of the software from being pirated, it will actually be incremental to earnings -- i.e., they don't lose the money that they are not currently collecting. The strong dollar will hurt. However, the strong product cycles should sustain earnings growth for the next few years.