To: Katz R Us (381 )
From: Peter Quon Saturday, Jan 22 2000 10:53AM ET
Reply # of 383
Optical-Equipment Stks Surge On Investor Confidence
Dow Jones Newswires -- January 20, 2000
By JOHNATHAN BURNS
NEW YORK -- Shares of many optical-equipment makers surged by double digits Thursday as investors confidently pumped money into this emerging section of the telecommunications market.
Ortel Corp. (ORTL) led the half-dozen advancers in the sector, with its stock recently trading up almost 13.2%, or 16, to 137. It was followed closely by Oak Industries Inc. (OAK), which moved up 8.9%, or 9 13/16, to 120 1/2. JDS Uniphase Corp. (JDSU) rose 6.4%, or 13 7/16, to 225, while E-Tek Dynamics Inc. (ETEK) - soon to be bought by JDS - moved up 9%, or 18, to 216 5/8.
"This is a sector story," said Mark Langley, an analyst with Gruntal & Co. who has been monitoring the group for about five years. "I think the JDS/E-Tek merger story focused some attention on the sector ... but this has been going on since fall of last year."
The fiber-optics market is expected to explode from a $5.5 billion market for equipment and component makers this year to a $21.3 billion market in 2003.
"These companies are just in an incredible position," said George Hunt, analyst with Wachovia Securities Inc.
Companies like JDS Uniphase and Corning Inc. (GLW) are component makers in the optical equipment market. Corning recently traded up 13.8%, or 18 7/16, to 152 1/8. Optical Laboratory Inc. (OCLI) also moved up 9.2%, or 35 13/16, to 424 13/16. The company is being bought by JDS Uniphase.
The only notable optical component maker to move down was SDL Inc. (SDLI), which was trading down 0.8%, or 2 1/8, to 258 1/2. The stock ran up almost 20% Wednesday.
Gruntal & Co.'s Langley said stocks in the fiber-optic equipment space have been soaring because the equipment makers will be the first to benefit from the explosion of broadband services.
"This is really an irreversible trend," he said. "It doesn't matter if (high-speed data) goes through cable or phone lines. They all go through (fiber optics). Fiber is the most robust terrestrial communications system we know of."
Both Hunt and Langley think more investors are beginning to understand the potential of the sector.
Investors also poured money into fiber-optics systems makers who put all the components together and sell to major telecommunications companies.
Lucent Technologies Inc. (LU) recently traded up 4.1%, or 2 3/16, to 53 5/8. Ciena Corp. (CIEN) moved up 8.1%, or 5 1/2, to 73 13/16. Nortel Networks Corp. (NT) moved up 1.2%, or 1 3/16, to 102 1/16.
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