PC giant Dell (DELL: sentiment, chart, options) was added to the "conviction sell" list at Goldman Sachs this morning, as the brokerage slashed its opinion on the shares from a previous rating of "neutral." In a note to clients, Goldman asserted, "Without software offerings of its own and with a services business that is tightly tied to its hardware shipments, Dell remains highly dependent on transactional hardware sales and pricing, both of which are likely to suffer as demand falls."

BMO Capital also jumped on the downgrade bandwagon; the firm cut its rating on DELL this morning from "outperform" to "market perform." Today's bearish brokerage notes have metaphorically kicked Dell while it's down; yesterday, the tech firm said that its chief technology officer, Kevin Kettler, will be leaving Dell in January.

DELL fell to $9.94 out of the gate today, which marks its lowest price since January 1998 -- nearly 11 years. The tech-sector heavyweight could be vulnerable to additional downgrades or price-target cuts as it extends its 57% year-to-date slump. Zacks reports 8 "strong buy" and 4 "buy" ratings on the equity, along with 12 "holds," while Thomson Financial pegs the average 12-month price target at $18.24. This consensus estimate is 82% higher than DELL's closing price on Wednesday.