American Technology Research dropped Dell from "buy" to "neutral" on October 3. The reason was that the ramp-up in new AMD powered PCs from Dell was happening slower than forecast. The new rating did seem to take the stock down about $.35, but it has recovered about $.85 since then to hit $23.56. Dell's stock has not closed this high in over three months. Nice call from American Technology.

One has to ask where the research firm was in March when Dell traded above $30. On September 9, 2005, American Research upgraded Dell from "hold" to "buy." The stock was $34. 65 then.

Thanks for the advice.

Douglas McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.

With great results on the earnings release, a few minutes ago, I was excited to hear the whole glowing report by Meg Whitman & team. I tuned in early.

Evidently, it's not a good idea to tune in early. I kept refreshing my page only to miss the first 14 minutes. So I'll be following up and re-capping when the webcast is archived later tonight. In the meantime...

5:14 p.m. -- CEO Meg Whitman is excitedly talking about PayPal when I tune in, and quickly goes on to Skype, talking about the free SkypeOut North America promotion, saying that U.S. and Canada downloads tripled and "revenue has accelerated past pre-campaign levels" despite the free nature of the campaign.

5:18 p.m. -- "Never stand still, adjust with lightning speed to whatever comes our way," is the strategy, says Meg. She also points out the many doubters along the way -- "why does eBay need a bank?" and "what is eBay doing with Skype?" -- but says that doubters have now been quashed. She's a really excellent speaker, eBay's speechwriter should get a bonus.

5:22 p.m. -- Now time for CFO Bob Swan. I think all CFO's should be named "Bob." He begins to rattle off the financial results. User growth continues to be strong, with 10 million new users in the quarter. Auction listings showed a year-over-year growth of 35%, and 106 million new listings in the stores, total. That's 3.1 million new users in the U.S., and U.S. listings grew 15% (guess most of that growth is coming outside the U.S.).