Goldman Raises IT Hardware Projections

Street estimates are low for numerous IT hardware vendors, contends Goldman Sachs IT hardware analyst team, which this morning put out a note raising estimates for 18 companies including Dell (DELL), Apple (AAPL), IBM (IBM) and Seagate (STX). The analysts believe the hardware firms have moved “beyond stabilization” in their business to the prospect of revenue and earnings growth. The firm raised its revenue growth estimate for 2010 from 5.5%, on average, to 6%, which is in line with the Street average estimate, but on a higher base of revenue than most analysts are looking for, projecting $441.5 billion this year and $467.8 next year, versus Street estimates of $439.5 billion and $465.6 billion, respectively.

Goldman’s top picks are NetApp (NTAP), Arrow Electronics (ARW), Seagate, and Molex (MOLX), because these four demonstrate an “ability to generate an outsized earnings contribution on incremental revenue.

This morning, NTAP, ARW, STX and MOLX are up 3%, .1%, 2%, and 1.7%, respectively.