Dell, Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) said yesterday that it will sell a 900-person customer support call center in El Salvador to an outsource company that handles support for large global corporations. Stream Global Services, Inc. will take over the customer support center as Dell continues to find ways to slash costs as much as it can.

Stream Global indicated that it will enhance the center to handle upcoming support needs from emerging Latin American markets. My question is this: is Dell once again having an identity crisis about running its own support organization? After all, this is the company that outsourced some U.S.-based support to India a while back, an effort that fell flat on its face. Yes, there is a difference between support centers in India that take care of U.S. customers and Latin American support centers taking care of Latin American customers.

Still, Dell should once and for all just outsource global support for its consumer product lines and call it a day. But wait a minute -- isn't the consumer market the one Dell has used in the last 18 months to claw its way back to growth after discovering consumer retail sales were a sales holy grail? Yes it is. And there are some heavy competitors in the commodity PC business these days, along with a market share-grabbing Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) to deal with. At this time, Dell, did not have any comment on the possible sale of other global call centers. The company probably does not know what it wants to do. It wouldn't be the first time.

"Our latest Focus Stock is a bullish play on Dell Computer (NASDAQ: DELL)," says Chris Johnson, who uses both a technical and contrarian-based approach in his Insightful Investor.

"Dell Computer is one of the largest retail computer manufactures in the world. The company supplies businesses and consumers with PC computers, printers, and other peripherals.

"For years, we've watched Michael Dell's company languish, as a slowdown in PC demand combined with a saturation of the PC market caused DELL shares to fall more than 50%. Now, after spending the past four months trading around the 20 mark, the stock may be ready to make a short-term run.

"From a technical perspective, the stock has recently built a bottom around the 20 level. This comes after bouncing from the lows near 18, which also represents the lows during the bear market started in 2000.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• In an effort to increase sales in the Middle East, the Wall Street Journal reported that Dell Inc (NASDAQ: DELL) is in talks with a government-owned vehicle in Dubai called Tecom about establishing a joint venture.
• The Wall Street Journal also reported that Washington Mutual Incorporated (NYSE: WM), which obtained a $7B capital infusion from TPG and other investors, had reportedly been working on the TPG deal while negotiating with JP Morgan Chase & Co (NYSE: JPM), which made a preliminary takeover bid of about $7B, people familiar with the deal said.
• Citigroup Incorporated (NYSE: C) is close to reaching a deal to sell $12B in leveraged loans at a discount to a group of leading private equity firms, the Financial Times reported. Although details of the deal were still being worked out, inside sources said Apollo Management, The Blackstone Group LP (NYSE: BX) and TPG would buy the loan portfolio at a discount that could come in at about 90 cents on the dollar.

OTHER PAPERS:

• The UK Times reported that The Boeing Company (NYSE: BA) is today expected to announce that its 787 Dreamliner has been delayed by 18 months, a setback which will affect all airlines that have ordered the 787, including British Airways Plc (OTC: BAIRY) and Virgin Atlantic.

As Georges Yared wrote this morning, Dell Inc.'s (NASDAQ: DELL) accounting irregularities are the least of its problems these days, but perhaps they are at the root of the company's problems. It seems that Dell is in a fully-mired slump on almost all fronts right now: its shares are stagnant (and have been for a while), its sales are down while competitor HP is growing, many of the exec staff has left recently (and much new blood has arrived), and the company has now found possible mischievous actions within its finance controls department. What a mess.

So, regarding the accounting mess currently underway in Round Rock, the company has delayed filing its latest 10-K with the SEC while it digs into further dirt piles within is accounting and financial areas to see just what the heck is going on in there. The "evidence of misconduct" sounds like old hat these days: someone (or more than one) in accounting is cooking the books somehow. Possibilities are abundant: Did someone inflate revenue by accounting for sales before they occurred? Did someone decide to toss GAAP aside while trying to make Dell meet quarterly numbers?

Are you a Dell shareholder? If so, your voice should be loud and clear here: things need to start making a turnaround and pretty quickly. It's true that Sarbanes-Oxley has been a resource hog for many companies recently (it almost has to be by definition), but at Dell, I guess it wasn't on the list of priorities as irregularities were hidden, buried and stashed in an oil furnace somewhere. Shareholders deserve more, and so does the share price which almost doesn't deserve to be where it is until things are cleaned up.

DELL shares just opened down nearly 2% to $22.93.

This article over at The Guardian makes a pretty decent case why Dell Inc.'s(NASDAQ:DELL) possible planned foray into selling Linux PCs may not ever work like some folks think it will. I agree with the author in that Michael Dell did not build his company by not listening to what customers wanted. So the question is, do most customers really want Linux on a new Dell PC? In terms of the consumer market at large, it's highly doubtful.

Most of the general PC buyer market (consumer market, anyway) only knows Windows from Microsoft. Sure, it has a huge share of problems, but trying to change the "comfort zone" of the average PC consumer from Windows to any flavor of Linux would be a massive undertaking. It's very true that the various distributions of Linux nowadays are very, very good operating systems. Ubuntu Linux 6, for example, is incredibly slick (I use it myself). It's also free -- while Windows is not. But does the normal customer even realize this when the only thing he or she cares about (insofar as price) is the total cost of the machine?

Can Dell make that cost proposition relevant to the burgeoning consumer market that it so desperately needs to grow? Probably not. The expertise to support all the various distributions of Linux and all the associated baggage to hand hold customers who need higher levels of support may possibly make the company charge more for Linux PCs than for Windows PCs. The open source community is the best support organization out there (and by far the brightest). But will normal customers care if the actual computers are more expensive? That's one for the ages.

Note: The Daily Option Update is provided by Stock Options Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

Mirant Corp. (NYSE:MIR) implied volatility Elevated at 32 as MIR trades near Record levels.

MIR is expected to report full EPS & hold a conference call on 3/5. MIR has been frequently mentioned as a potential candidate for announcing a recapitalization or a share repurchase. MIR call option volume of 1,044 contracts compares to put volume of 3,001 contracts. MIR overall option implied volatility of 32 is above its 26-week average of 26 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price risks.

New Century Financial Corp (NYSE:NEW) low cost deep OTM April & May 5 put spread trades as Hedge.

NEW, a real estate investment trust, providing mortgage products to borrowers nationwide, is recently down 37c to $15.47. NEW deep out of the money April 5 puts traded 4,715 contracts near the bid at .12 & .13 cents above its theoretical value of .01 cent. NEW deep out of the money May 5 puts traded 5,568 contracts on the offer of .40 cents above theoretical value of .04 cents according to Track Data, suggesting spreaders paying up to hedge risk.

This corporate spying mess just never seems to end, yes? In what is constantly reminding me of the Rocky Balboa-Apollo Creed fight from Rocky II, a former employee of Hewlett-Packard -- currently the world's largest PC maker -- has been accused of spying on rival Dell -- with direct instructions form HP executive management. The plot thickens, eh?

Karl Kamb Jr. -- who was HP's vice president of business development and strategy just recently -- is now the main defendant in a federal lawsuit initiated by HP that alleges several HP employees started a flat-screen television company (as a competitor to HP) while still being employed at HP.

Kamb has filed a countersuit that says he was instructed by HP executive management (names, please) to steal trade secrets from rival Dell in order to collect "competitive intelligence" about the activities of Dell in the printer business. In what is a rather comical look into the silliness inside some of these billion-dollar companies, court documents have provided a inside view into "codenames" used in the alleged printer spying alleged scandal, such as "Everest" and "Fuji-san".

Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) -- formerly the world's largest computer manufacturer -- has announced that it will be shuffling its executive ranks as the company desperately tries to forget 2006 and move ahead to getting back to its most comfortable spot -- as the largest and fastest-growing computer (and other product) manufacturer. Other products, you say? Let me explain.

While Dell is busy implementing a new operating structure very soon, the company needs to really determine where it stands outside the computer arena. Although Dell practically created the "build to order" system that has now been copied almost perfectly in the computer manufacturing industry, other manufacturers have been able to catch up to Dell in order to duplicate the efficiency and cost savings that Dell has by only making computers when customers order them. Part of the resurgence HP has seen recently is due to this, along with some other competitors as well. In other words, the cat is out of the bag and Dell can no longer rely on that technique -- which has been its hallmark for nearly two decades -- any longer.

Analysis provided by Theflyonthewall.com:

Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL) Q3 revenue was essentially in-line with expectations, but margins improved nicely, with gross margins jumping to 17% from 15.5%. Dell's shares surged on the report, up $2.33 Wednesday to $27.16 in very heavy trading.

Growth for Dell is coming from where it was supposed to originate from the Asia Pacific-Japan region. Dell reported 23% unit volume growth in the Asian region in addition to solid unit volume growth of 9% in Europe.

However, sales in the Americas were flat to down, which has been the case for a while. The high- growth days in the mature economies are over, especially from a revenue perspective.

There might be a good trade in Dell based on margin expansion, but investors should look at newer, high-growth companies, such as Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) and Interactive Corp. (IDC). It's important for traders and investors to remember that we are in the Internet era, not the PC era.

Can Dell Inc.(NASDAQ:DELL) ever be as cool as Apple Computer,Inc (NASDAQ:APPL)? Well, the world's second-largest PC maker hopes so, as it wants to shed its image of a stodgy brand of boring PCs into a design and usability icon under former Apple exec John Medica, who assisted on the Apple MacIntosh II and first Powerbooks.

Medica is now charged with re-inventing Dell's product style and external customer image into something more svelte and consumer-friendly -- which will be no easy task since the image Dell has right now is far from that postcard picture. Although Dell's PC designs -- for desktops, since I recently bought one -- look great and very much are improved in terms of overall aesthetics and designs (except its boring laptops, save the XPS series), they are nowhere near what Apple's products invoke.

Medica details what I consider to be the perfect situation for any product in an interview he gave to CNET, in which he says "When I think of an awesome product or products that I've had in my lifetime that I've thoroughly enjoyed, they're the products that are extraordinarily well thought through. (They) have a level of physical quality and predictability and function, and they are as enjoyable to use on the first day as they are on the day you've replaced them. They have a level of support and/or trust with the company from which I purchased the product, and whenever I need any type of service support...it's predictable, it's well done, and solves my issue."

Well said there -- he captured the essence if what it is to design, produce and support a product that creates an indelible imprint on the mind of the consumer. So many companies are concerned with getting products out the door to meet quarterly financial targets that planning on this scale rarely happens. Apple does it based on the extreme scrutiny of CEO Steve Jobs and handpicked details nuts like himself -- look what the company does to style, image, design and "hipness" -- and it has no equal. Dell may be able to learn from that. Maybe.

The Fool ran a commentary yesterday that was quite intriguing -- a comparison of Wal-Mart and Dell. There is one single sentence in the commentary that may make the story for many: Berkshire Hathaway owns 20 million shares of Wal-Mart but none of Dell. Is this case closed on a investment decision? It's hard to argue with Warren Buffett's track record, but it's also an enlightening look at why Wal-Mart, trading at sub-$45 levels, is a bargain buy right now.

Dell's rather cinched marketplace deals with computer hardware mostly, from the up-n-down PC marketplace to corporate IT servers (and fluctuating budgets) to an array of consumer electronics, most of which have not dented the market at all. Ever heard of the Dell "DJ Ditty" digital music player? I didn't think so.

I agree with Vic Murthy, here, in that Wal-Mart's sheer market diversification (almost too much) is its saving grace. An up or down here or there can dent a small portion of its revenues, or an energy crisis or inflation can dent all its categories -- along with most other physical retailers in the nation.

While Dell has lost about 33% of its market value this year after what seems to have been one large public misstep after another, Wal-Mart has lost only about 4% of its value this year. Which equity will make it into your basket of stocks this year?

Brian White has worked in various executive positions in technology and telecommunications and now focuses on editing and writing.