ROUND ROCK, TX - Dell Computer has reported fiscal fourth-quarter results below analyst's expectations. Dell reported profit for fiscal Q4 of $679 million, or 31cents a share, 14% below the 36 cents analysts had predicted. Sales for the quarter were $16 billion, below the $16.27 billion expected, but up from $14.5 billion year-over-year.

The computer maker blamed turnaround costs, "conservative" consumer spending, and the effort to reverse a sales and market-share decline that led to last year's resignation of former CEO Kevin Rollins.

Dell released a statement saying that it expects to "incur costs as it realigns its business to improve growth and profitability, adversely impacting the company's near-term performance."

The company will reportedly increase customer service, begin selling its products through retail outlets, end direct-to-consumer sales, and reportedly lay off 10% of its workforce, or almost 9,000 jobs.

BANNOCKBURN, IL - The IPC (Association Connecting Electronics Industries) announced the January 2008 findings from its monthly North American Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Statistical Program.

Rigid PCB shipments were up 5.6% for January, and bookings were up 13.7% year-over-year. The book-to-bill ratio for the North American rigid PCB industry slipped to 0.97.

Flexible circuit shipments were down 17.9% and bookings were down 20.9% as compared to January 2007. The North American flexible circuit book-to-bill ratio declined to 0.96.

For rigid PCBs and flexible circuits combined, industry shipments in January increased 4% year-over-year, and orders booked increased 10.9%. The combined (rigid and flex) industry book-to-bill ratio in January 2008 fell to 0.97.

“The rigid PCB segment showed strong year-over-year growth in January, which is encouraging,” said IPC President Denny McGuirk. “Orders have lagged shipments in both segments of the PCB industry for the past two months, causing book-to-bill ratios to dip slightly below parity, but this should not raise concerns. January is typically a slow month for the industry, and monthly fluctuations like this are normal.”

The book-to-bill ratios are calculated by dividing the value of orders booked over the past three months by the value of sales billed during the same period from companies in IPC’s survey sample. A ratio of more than 1.00 suggests that current demand is ahead of supply, which is a positive indicator for sales growth over the next two to three months.