Owings Mills, Maryland, Sept. 24 (Bloomberg) - Steady interest rates and low inflation could help U.S. stocks double in the next five years, Robert Robbins, a market strategist at Robinson-Humphrey Co., said on ``Wall Street Week With Louis Rukeyser.' ``I am very bullish on stocks,' Robbins said. ``Go another five years and the market will double.' Technology stocks are ``the most important area, with about a 35 percent allocation,' he said.
Robbins is focusing on cellular and personal-communication companies and on Internet stocks. He backs American Online Inc., the No. 1 online service, Yahoo! Inc., the No. 1 Internet directory, Amazon.com Inc., the biggest Internet retailer, and MCI WorldCom Inc., the No. 2 U.S. long-distance company.
With interest rates near 6 percent, bonds are ``as attractive as stocks were a year ago at the bottom of the bear market,' he said. Robbins recommends an allocation of about 30 percent in bonds, adding that there is little need to have ``much cash in reserves.'
Other panelists also focused on technology stocks. ``AOL has started a terrific surge going into the holiday period,' said Liz Ann Sonders, a managing director of Campbell, Cowperthwait, U.S. Trust. She also recommended MCI WorldCom, because ``of their excellent deal with Sprint,' and Clear Channel Communication Inc., one of the three largest U.S. radio companies.
Frank Cappiello, president of McCullough, Andres & Cappiello, said he likes the ``battered stocks, the staples,' like American Home Products Corp., maker of the most prescribed U.S. drug Premarin.
Louis Holland, Holland Capital Management's chief investment officer, mentioned Pfizer Inc., the No. 2 U.S. drugmaker, and Safeway Inc. |
