Thomas - Just picked up a great message re your thread & personal profile. You no doubt have seen this, but felt some of your followers may not have & would be interested. Congratulations. I am mostly a lurker but try to check your valuable thread daily or several times a day.
NOTICE: This is a long message:
Subject:
The Internet Financial Connection, October 29, 1998
Date:
Thu, 29 Oct 1998 16:10:55 -0500
From:
Mark Johnson <markuss@alliance.net>
To:
ifc@mLists.net
The Internet Financial Connection, October 29, 1998
Presented by Mark Johnson, Editor of the IFC
techstocks.com
It appears exclusively on Silicon Investor
techstocks.com
--------------------------------------------------------------
To Subscribe to this Newsletter: Send an email to
<mailto:ifc-request@mLists.net>
with "subscribe" in the message body.
Please tell a friend about this newsletter :)
--------------------------------------------------------------
This newsletter can be viewed at
techstocks.com
In This Issue:
1. Technology Outlook with Walter Price
of the RCM Global Technology Fund
2. Coach USA
3. Utility Stocks with Susan Flishel
4. Telephone and Data Systems
5. Highlights on SI: Befriend the Trend Trading
6. Interesting Articles On The Internet by Joe Dancy
7. Highlights on SI: by Tom Taulli
8. Highlights on SI: "I vant to suck your profits."
the return of DRAM and the peripherals
by David Zgodzinski
9. Disclaimer
----------------------------------------------------------
1.
techstocks.com
Walter Price of The Dresdner RCM Global Technology Fund,
provides the following interview with Mark Johnson,
Editor of the Internet Financial Connection. For a
prospectus about their mutual fund please call
800-726-7240.
The article is about technology companies
and the trends that are going in the tech area.
and how they are more a part of the economy than
ever. It also explains that small cap stocks
are very undervalued.
"Technology Outlook with Walter Price
of the RCM Global Technology Fund"
To conserve bandwidth, please go to the link below to read.
techstocks.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------
2.
techstocks.com
Eric Green of Penn Capital Management (609-354-1533),
provides the following stock idea on Coach USA
(CUI 25 3/4). Below is the write up.
With the Russell 2000 Index of small cap stocks
surging off its lows recently, many small stocks are
still plagued by the Rodney Dangerfield Syndrome,
also known on Wall Street as RDS. Coach USA has been
plagued by RDS because of the fears of recession and
recent market turmoil that sent their shares into a
tail-spin from $52 in July, to a low of $14 in October,
with their shares trading in the high 20's. Eric Green
of Penn Capital Management believes that Coach USA will
soon recover from the non fatal RDS syndrome.
Coach USA is a consolidator in the motorcoach industry
with revenues quickly approaching $1 billion, compared
to revenues of $540 million in 1997. They provide charter,
tour, sight-seeing, as well as commuter and transit
motorcoach services. They went public in 1996 when six
founding companies came together to form one company.
"Coach USA saw their stock come down on fears of a
recession, that they would be affected by not being able
to get financing for future acquisitions. Investors also
thought their high end tour business would affect their
results. However, high end tour business represents only
a small portion of total revenues," says Eric, "During
the last recession, the six founding companies actually
performed very well and had very little downfall in their
business... Furthermore, Coach USA has strong experienced
management that has successfully implemented acquisitions
while maintaining strong double digit internal growth."
He adds, they have $200 million available for acquisitions
and only $150 million is projected to be used in 1999, so,
financing will not be a problem for them. "Their business
would only get stronger in a recession because companies
are looking for ways to save money... A way for a company
to reduce its costs is by outsourcing all of their
transportation needs to a company like Coach USA... I
disagree with why people were selling... It is a severe
over reaction and the company is practically recession
proof," Eric argues.
On October 19th of this year, Laidlaw announced that they
would buy Greyhound Lines. Eric figures that if the same
value was given to Coach USA, as Laidlaw paid for Greyhound,
Coach USA would be valued at $36 per share. "Greyhounds'
margins are very low... Coach USA has much better margins
and is a higher quality bus line," he says.
Coach USA has surpassed analysts earnings expectations
every quarter since they have been public. Eric points out
that Coach USA will begin wrapping a number of their busses
with advertisements. "This is a huge opportunity and it has
not been included at all in estimates. This bears no expense
to Coach USA and will go straight to the bottom line. I
think they could substantially exceed estimates in the
foreseeable future."
Analysts estimate Coach USA will earn $2.15 in 1998 and
$2.68 in 1999. Eric thinks those estimates are very
conservative. He believes their stock can hit the old high
of $52 a share in 12 to 18 months.
There is a thread that discusses CUI on SI.
Subject 20310
------------------------------------------------------------------
3.
techstocks.com
Susan Flischel of the Countrywide Utility Fund
cwinvest.com... provides the following
interview with Mark Johnson along with some favorite
stock ideas in her fund. Below is the write up.
When some individual investors think of utility stocks
or even utility mutual funds, not a lot of excitement
comes to mind. Susan Flischel of the Countrywide Utility
Fund has put other money managers to shame. Her fund has
returned a very exciting 24% (for period ending September
30, 1998), over the last 12 months and has been rated 26
out of 3,242 U.S. stock funds in performance rankings
by Morningstar.
Susan modestly points out that one reason why her fund
has done so well is because there were concerns about
international turmoil and possible earnings growth problems
for many companies. This in turn, sent many investors into
utility stocks because utility stocks offer more predictable
earnings growth, have less international exposure and
usually pay a nice dividend, "which is a nice buffer," says
Susan. Some of the criteria she uses when selecting a stock
is strong earnings growth, dividend growth potential and a
low dividend payout ratio relative to earnings. She notes
that high dividend payouts, relative to earnings means that
there is not much room for an earnings shortfall or capital
expenditures. Money can then be put back into the company to
further stimulate growth.
Some of the companies that are on the top of her list are
BellSouth (BLS 76 1/2); Lucent Technology (LU 79 3/4), Duke
Power (DUK 63 3/8) and American Water Works (AWK 31 7/8).
Unlike many other Baby Bells, BellSouth has not acquired or
merged with anyone yet and have shown strong internal growth.
"They are doing a lot on the cellular side in the
international markets," says Susan, "They are positioned very
well and have great management... Their growth will be strong
going forward and their stock should continue to do well."
Lucent Technology, the better known telephone equipment maker,
has shown very strong growth in their revenues. Susan
particularly likes them because of the strong growth and they
have limited international exposure. Seventy-five percent of
their revenues are domestic. Duke Power is a consolidator in
the electric utility industry and has done a number of
acquisitions. Their stock price has held their ground very
well and offers a very attractive 3.5% dividend yield. "Duke
has very progressive management and is doing all the right
things to enhance shareholder value."
American Water Works is a sleeper and has embarked on an
acquisition strategy that has been successful. They buy small
water utilities and are growing by acquisitions. Susan
mentions, they are a very well run company, having shown very
consistent earnings growth and revenue growth while trading at
a reasonable valuation.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
4.
techstocks.com
Wally Weitz of the Weitz Value Fund 800-232-4161
(Minimum investment $25k, lower initial rates through
Charles Schwab and Jack White), provides the following
stock idea on Telephone and Data Systems (TDS 39). Below
is the write up.
Wally Weitz of the Weitz Value Fund, searches for bargains
wherever they may be. "If I can find good, growing,
understandable businesses and can buy them at half of their
current business value, it would be a good value," says
Wally. A company that fits the above description and he
likes very much is Telephone and Data Systems (TDS).
TDS is a diversified telecommunications service company
with local wireline telephone, cellular telephone and PCS.
TDS controls another company called U.S. Cellular. In
essence, if you buy one share of TDS, that one share would
control 1.1 shares of U.S. Cellular. Wally notes that by
purchasing TDS at $39, "You basically get get U.S. Cellulars'
stock, with a market value of $40 and the rest of the company
for free."
Wally figures when comparing TDSs' components and businesses
to other comparable publicly traded companies, TDS is worth
between $75 to $100 per share. "It is a good value selling
at a discount."
-----------------------------------------------------------------
5.
techstocks.com
Thomas Carr is the creator and an active participant at
the Befriend the Trend Trading thread here on SI. Thomas
provides the following commentary about what goes on there
and what the thread is all about. Below is his write up.
"I had been trading stocks for about 5 years on a part-time
basis before I worked out the "Befriend the Trend Trading
System." I am a professor at a small college, and so generally
have an hour or two each day between classes, and lots of time
in the summer to trade. But my efforts generally did not
produce much over what I was getting in my mutual funds. I
mostly traded on news, earnings reports, splits, and tips from
friends. I had a few big gainers. But mostly my returns were
mediocre, or I simply lost money.
That's when I decided to focus not on fundamental analysis
(takes way too much time) but on technical analysis instead.
I read a couple of books, broused several web pages, and did
lots of backtesting. That's when I settled on the
following formula:
-I would trade only a select number of big cap stocks that
I knew very well, and which had lots of institutional support.
-I would focus during market uptrends only on those among my
list that were also showing good strength over the long, mid
and short-term.
-And I would focus during market corrections only on those
among my list that were also showing weakness.
-Finally, I would look for stocks that had paused in their
trends, and jump in once the trend resumes again. I use the
Stochastics indicator to determine entries and exits, as well
as chart formations.
I paper-traded the system for about 3 months before I felt
confident enough to trade it with real money. But once I did,
I decided that I didn't want to trade alone, so I started the
thread. When it first got going, most of the posts were from
me to myself. I carried on a kind of conversation with myself
on my own trading decisions, in the hope that others might
join in. Soon others did join us, and now we have quite a few
regular posters. We have been off and on the "hot subjects"
list several times.
Generally the regular posters on the thread share stocks they
are thinking of trading, with links to charts. And the rest of
us comment on them. I usually give a weekly list of suggested
trades, with target prices. And I always declare what I am
trading, and my results. I had been up over 40% in about 20
weeks of trading, but that has slipped some during this market
volatility.
It's a great thread, with lots of support and advice. I am
very glad it has developed the way it has."
-----------------------------------------------------------------
6.
techstocks.com
INTERNET AND INTERNET COMMERCE
Market research-firms predict a groundswell of e-commerce
projects by firms in the United States and abroad.
techweb.com
Cyberloafing by employees is a growing problem in the
workplace as more and more people get hooked up to
the Internet
globe.com
Online investing: The next wave
business-times.asia1.com.sg
SEMICONDUCTOR & ELECTRONICS
High-flying Dell continued to put pressure on
top-ranked Compaq
sfgate.com
PC sales surge in third quarter with Dell, Apple
gaining share
scmp.com
Better times seen for big chip-makers
scmp.com
Chip-gear stocks keep Nasdaq steady - a slew of upgrades
in the chip-equipment
techweb.com
ECONOMIC
A surplus of statistical dishonesty aside, the
government is still running a deficit
washingtonpost.com
Are we in a world financial crisis hidden by Washington?
nypostonline.com
For U.S. economy, experts see modest growth, no sign
of recession
herald.com
Fed official warns of credit crunch
iht.com
JAPAN, RUSSIA & LATIN AMERICA
Since economic ''reforms'' began six years ago, Russia
has lost nearly twice as much of its industrial output
as America did in the Great Depression.
iht.com
Japan's revival will come 'in a few months'
straitstimes.asia1.com
Is the worst of the global crisis over?
washingtonpost.com
Interview with Michael H. Moskow, president of the
Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
chicagotribune.com
MARKETS & INVESTING
Are small caps finally ready for the big time?
nypostonline.com
Will investors adjust to moderation? Returns may
fall to historical levels
globe.com
It is a quirk of the popular averages that the
big-capitalization stocks disguise the damage
chicagotribune.com
Top analysts grow gloomy on tech stocks
mercurycenter.com
Bargains in small caps
bergen.com
Small-cap stocks score big October turnaround
bergen.com
Keys to investing in technology: belief, patience
chicagotribune.com
Small-Cap stocks may offer value
triblive.com
Small-caps finally having their day
washingtonpost.com
Market rally is for real, experts say
detnews.com
"The perception about the risk of small-cap
stocks is changing"
washingtonpost.com
HEDGE FUNDS
Investors Suing S.F. Fund Manager Robert Pryt
and Bear Stearns: Money mismanaged, unauthorized
bets made, group say
sfgate.com
Buffett mulling buying out Long-Term Capital
nypostonline.com
LEGAL
Liars, cheats and incompetents don't fill the
executive offices at technology companies. The
American public may believe otherwise before long,
in part because of the nature of today's legal system.
mercurycenter.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
7.
The Taulli Report, Voices of SI: by Tom Taulli
Little optimism for SyQuest
stocksite.com
eBay: opportunity or overvalued?
stocksite.com
Cendant re-pricing irks investors
stocksite.com
Informix turnaround buoys investors
stocksite.com
Most on SI believe Microsoft will prevail
stocksite.com
Ascend accounting draws mixed reviews
stocksite.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------
8.
Highlights on SI: "I vant to suck your profits."
the return of DRAM and the peripherals
by David Zgodzinski
techstocks.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------
9.
techstocks.com
DISCLAIMER: All information contained on this page are from the
authors cited. The information is believed to be reliable but
there is no guarantee to its accuracy. Stock ideas presented by
mutual fund managers, money managers, newsletter writers and SI
participants may be bought or sold by them anytime before or
after being presented in this newsletter. Anyone purchasing the
stock ideas above should consult a financial advisor before doing
so. The stock ideas mentioned above are not solicitations to buy
or sell but to provide people with information from many sources.
I (Mark Johnson editor of the IFC) am not paid any fees by the
above writers nor by the companies represented. The stock ideas
may represent a starting point for investors. People are
encouraged to do their own homework before buying any stock.
Neither Silicon Investor or the Internet Financial Connection
will be responsible for any loss occurring from
the purchase or sale of the above securities or any securities.
=========================================================================
To Subscribe: Send an email to <mailto:ifc-request@mLists.net>
with "subscribe" in the message body.
Please tell a friend about this newsletter :)
Shop the best prices on the Web!
webmarket.com
|
