SHARE
Facebook X Pinterest WhatsApp

Channel Stocks Hit Lofty Levels

Channel stocks continued to rally during the first full week of 2004, with many firms hitting 52-week highs ahead of earnings reports scheduled for this month. Shares in Digitas Inc. (DTAS, +17.61 percent), PC Connection Inc. (+14.42 percent), Keane Inc. (KEA, +12.66 percent), Arrow Electronics Inc. (ARW, +12.45 percent) and DiamondCluster International Inc. (DTPI, 11.41 […]

Jan 12, 2004
Channel Insider content and product recommendations are editorially independent. We may make money when you click on links to our partners. Learn More

Channel stocks continued to rally during the first full week of 2004, with many firms hitting 52-week highs ahead of earnings reports scheduled for this month.

Shares in Digitas Inc. (DTAS, +17.61 percent), PC Connection Inc. (+14.42 percent), Keane Inc. (KEA, +12.66 percent), Arrow Electronics Inc. (ARW, +12.45 percent) and DiamondCluster International Inc. (DTPI, 11.41 percent) last week propelled the Ziff Davis Channel Zone Stock Index to a new high. Less than halfway into January, the index has risen 5.16 percent so far this year and 16.53 percent since October.

Last week’s showing would have been even stronger, had it not been for weak jobs data that undermined the market on Jan. 9, sending the Dow Jones industrial average down 133 points, its sharpest drop since October.

Still, a sense of optimism remains in the IT marketplace. Bullish investment firms watching the channel include Thomas Weisel, which upgraded shares in Arrow Electronics and Avnet Inc. (AVT, +8.45 percent) on Jan. 9 before the market opened. Soundview Technology delivered a similar upgrade on Convergys Corp. shares (CVG, +6.69 percent). Even Accenture Ltd. shares (ACN, 0.80 percent) managed to rise nominally despite a downgrade from Pacific Growth Equities.

Can the channel continue its recent momentum? The answer may emerge over the next two weeks, as solutions providers and distributors announce their latest quarterly earnings. Accenture (Jan. 13), CDW Corp. (Jan. 21), Sapient Corp. (Jan. 29), Unisys Corp. (Jan. 20) and offshore developer Wipro Ltd. (Jan. 21) are among those set to announce results before month’s end.

Although the IT spending funk appears over, some evidence suggests that the technology recovery has yet to shift into high gear. Indeed, large companies plan to increase their IT spending a modest 1.7 percent this year, according to a survey of 818 North American companies conducted by Forrester Research Inc. of Boston, Mass.

About this Column:The Ziff Davis Channel Zone Stock Index tracks 30 channel-related stocks on a weekly basis. We don’t recommend buys, sells or holds. Rather, the index seeks to measure the channel’s financial health. We launched the index on Oct. 24, 2003 with a value of 1000. Each stock in the index is equally weighted. For example, if one stock rises 5 percent and another falls 4 percent, the net result is a 1 percent gain.

Joseph C. Panettieri has covered Silicon Valley since 1992. He is editorial director of the New York Institute of Technology . Write to him at joe_pan5@yahoo.com.

 

Company

Symbol

Jan. 9

One Week

Web

Accenture Ltd.

ACN

$ 25.22

0.80%

www.accenture.com

Acxiom Corp.

ACXM

$ 18.64

-0.90%

www.acxiom.com

Affiliated Computer Services Inc.

ACS

$ 57.11

3.54%

www.acs-inc.com

Agilysys Inc.

AGYS

$ 11.70

3.91%

www.agilysys.com

American Management Systems Inc.

AMSY

$ 16.13

4.00%

www.ams.com

Arrow Electronics Inc.

ARW

$ 26.01

12.45%

www.arrow.com

Avnet Inc.

AVT

$ 23.11

8.45%

www.avnet.com

CDW Corp.

CDWC

$ 63.91

8.95%

www.cdw.com

Ciber Inc.

CBR

$ 9.25

2.89%

www.ciber.com

Cognizant Tech Solutions Corp.

CTSH

$ 51.00

8.37%

www.cognizant.com

Computer Sciences Corp.

CSC

$ 44.35

0.23%

www.csc.com

Convergys Corp.

CVG

$ 18.83

6.69%

www.convergys.com

Covansys Corp.

CVNS

$ 10.75

0.00%

www.covansys.com

DiamondCluster International Inc.

DTPI

$ 10.93

11.41%

www.diamondcluster.com

Digitas Inc.

DTAS

$ 10.82

17.61%

www.digitas.com

Electronic Data Systems Corp.

EDS

$ 23.71

-3.42%

www.eds.com

GTSI Corp.

GTSI

$ 14.09

1.73%

www.gtsi.com

IBM Corp.

IBM

$ 91.21

-0.37%

www.ibm.com

Ingram Micro Inc.

IM

$ 16.32

2.77%

www.ingrammicro.com

Keane Inc.

KEA

$ 17.18

12.66%

www.keane.com

Manchester Technologies Inc.

MANC

$ 4.10

2.50%

www.e-manchester.com

Manhattan Associates Inc.

MANH

$ 26.06

-4.54%

www.manhattanassociates.com

MPS Group Inc.

MPS

$ 9.87

0.71%

www.mpsgroup.com

PC Connection Inc.

PCCC

$ 9.60

14.42%

www.pcconnection.com

Perot Systems Corp.

PER

$ 14.07

2.55%

www.perotsystems.com

Pomeroy IT Solutions Inc.

PMRY

$ 14.96

1.49%

www.pomeroy.com

Sapient Corp.

SAPE

$ 6.20

8.20%

www.sapient.com

Tech Data Corp.

TECD

$ 41.14

3.60%

www.techdata.com

The Titan Corp.

TTN

$ 21.81

0.09%

www.titan.com

Unisys Corp.

UIS

$ 14.91

0.68%

www.unisys.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

Current Index

1,165.26

 

 

 

Previous Week

1,116.49

 

 

 

Weekly Change

4.37%

 

 

 

Since Start

16.53%

 

 

 

YTD Change

5.16%

 

 

 

 

Recommended for you...

SailPoint Intros Accelerated Application Management Solution
Jordan Smith
Aug 22, 2025
ConnectWise Partners with Proofpoint on Security in Asio
Jordan Smith
Aug 22, 2025
RegScale CRO on Channel Growth in Risk & Compliance
Victoria Durgin
Aug 22, 2025
Manny Rivelo on Evolving Channel & How MSPs Can Get Ahead
Victoria Durgin
Aug 20, 2025
Channel Insider Logo

Channel Insider combines news and technology recommendations to keep channel partners, value-added resellers, IT solution providers, MSPs, and SaaS providers informed on the changing IT landscape. These resources provide product comparisons, in-depth analysis of vendors, and interviews with subject matter experts to provide vendors with critical information for their operations.

Property of TechnologyAdvice. © 2025 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.