First time on Heard on the Boards
Bullish effervescence
Stocks thundered out of the gate on Thursday as the bull stampede into
technology issues propelled the Nasdaq Composite Index and the Nasdaq 100 (QQQ)
to new all-time highs. The S&P 500 also closed at a record, even though bond
prices fell for a second day in the aftermath of the Federal Reserve's latest
round of rate increases. The initial public offering market continued its
winning streak.
Nasdaq volume again was at an astounding level of 1.6 billion shares as the
Composite Index rumbled higher to end the regular session with a gain of 77.72,
or 2.4%, to 3347.11. A 1.0% rise, or 14.23 points, in the S&P put the benchmark
index at 1424.94 for the day. New York Stock Exchange volume was also heavy at
a billion shares as the Dow Industrials crossed the 11,000 mark for the first
time since September to end 152.61 points higher, or 1.4%, at 11,035.70.
An expected split in new Dow component Home Depot (HD), which rose 3 9/16 to 83
1/2, came to pass Thursday morning when the home improvement retailer's board of
directors raised the dividend in addition to declaring a 3-for-2 split.
FuturePsych lived up to his Raging Bull alias in a note issued to pegleg shortly
before the announcement. "I think HD is going to be building another store near
me," said FuturePsych at 11:16 AM. "This would be the fourth store within a 30
mile area. Got to love it. I am building a garage this spring and I am buying
a small amount when the prices are down, on the materials. It seems they change
too fast. But this will be a stock to keep. I hope this splits."
ragingbull.com
The pace of stock split announcements to take place in December and into the
year 2000 has picked up in recent days, but about a dozen are still on tap for
November. Veritas Software (VRTS) will split 3-for-2 after the bell this
Friday. "Hey, finally some visitors to the VRTS board!" declared prhprh to
rdlaing in post #93 for Veritas, which went out Thursday up 8 5/8 to 138 1/8.
Added prhprh, "I've owned this thing for about 7 months and I'm up 300%. The
stock has gapped up 5 to 10% at least a half dozen times during this period with
no published news that I can find. I suspect there are some institutional
investors or insiders that are buying blocks to build their positions. Possibly
viewed as a take-over candidate. I'm just enjoying the ride."
ragingbull.com
New S&P 500 component Citrix Systems (CTXS), which makes application server
products for Microsoft (MSFT) Windows operating systems, certainly contributed
to the index's record close by surging 16 3/4 to 98 1/2 on Thursday. "You
jumped in at a good time," tandress remarked to netstockfiend on Wednesday. "I
bought some more @ 77 5/8 and before I could write it down, it was already 80.
It seems to be moving from 77 to 81 1/2 right now. Not bad to trade some. I
suspect it will run on up before long. There is no reason for it to say in this
range. I'm going to keep holding a core amount and keep trading it in this
range until it runs off and leaves me. It's a great long term hold."
ragingbull.com
The revolution in wireless communications rages onward, and that's helping
shares of wireless cell phone makers. ADRs of Finland-based Nokia (NOK), which
rang up 10 7/16 to 137 5/8, and Swedish cell phone maker L.M. Ericsson (ERICY),
which rose 4 3/8 to 51 3/8, both ended the day at new highs. "Hi everybody, I'm
a long time lurker, first time poster," declared bongo22 in post #380 on the
Ericsson thread. "I've been long on ERICY since May 1995. Bought at 20 1/4
pre-split. It has become the cornerstone of my portfolio. This company has
just come through a period of restructuring and 'taking a breather' after all
the phenomenal gains of the past several years. Many current analysts appear to
agree that they have turned the corner and are entering a new growth phase,
hence the dramatic rise over the past several weeks."
ragingbull.com
In such a raging bull market, a lot of messages advise RB members to maintain
their positions. "We just graduated today, from a little growth stock with big
potential to, as of today, a momo stock," exclaimed guany to dontdump in message
#7326 for interactive TV software maker ACTV (IATV), which clicked up 2 11/16 to
23 5/8. "The rush has just begun!" continued guany. "Get ready to have big
chunks of cash thrown at you to try to convince you to give up your shares.
Don't do it--don't make the mistake that some did of selling LBRT at 35-40. The
one lesson LBRT teaches us is that once a strong uptrend has begun, don't sell
too soon."
ragingbull.com
The same theme was evident in bulldoze's message for Retek (RETK), which went
public Thursday and finished the day up 17 9/16, or 117% from its offering price
to close at 32 9/16. "Folks, folks, folks, this is one of a handful of web
companies making a profit. And with a web site name like 'Retail.com.' What a
name, too. I mean WOW! This is in the same area of business as Purchase Pro
which was at 25 something just over 4 weeks ago. It's at 118 and up 10
something today. I did own Purchase Pro at one point and sold at 30, I think.
I'm not getting out of this one."
ragingbull.com
HNC Software (HNCS) has been rising lately and the shares rose to 66 before
ending Thursday off 1/4 at 60 3/4. Back on October 31, Spacegold clued
MNNICE1045 about what would happen in the days ahead for the predictive
solutions software provider. "HNC has said they will distribute their 88%
interest in Retek (after IPO) to their own shareholders. Let it occur to you
that this is a way for anyone to participate in an IPO at the offering price.
Buy the HNC shares and wait for the distribution. Then if the RETK shares take
a run like a lot of IPOs, you get a free ride."
ragingbull.com
At the time of publication, David Jennings was long shares of Nokia.
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The Bull's Best of the Boards:
PCS (Sprint PCS) - #324 by mobiletrade
"WFII should help them here..."
ragingbull.com
MSFT (Microsoft) - #7547 by Ed_Dryden
"Angry about the MSFT put warrants..."
ragingbull.com
QCOM (Qualcomm) - #5237 by jhodnicki
"A disruptive technology - wireless data..."
ragingbull.com
ELNK (EarthLink) - #2259 by RSpencer
"The dominant corporate philosophy..."
ragingbull.com
AAPL (Apple Computer) - #23752 by jonceramic
"Apple making a set-top box..."
ragingbull.com
CPWR (Compuware) - #2206 by dbrown4428
"McPeake is our evangelist..."
ragingbull.com |
