Mark, the NBR transcripts are available at:
nightlybusiness.org Click "Transcripts" in left margin.
Text you referenced from today is below in bold:
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"Where Best To Invest?"-Part 4 Tech Sector
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LINDA O'BRYON: Well, the technology sector has certainly performed well today and it has performed well this year. So is it a place where it might be best for you to invest? Tonight, we wrap up our week-long series on investment opportunities as Erika Miller looks at the tech sector.
ERIKA MILLER, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: For the most part, Wall Street can't seem to get enough of technology company shares, led by the four horseman of Intel, Microsoft, Dell and Cisco Systems. But it's not just the big names that are doing well. The effect has carried over to virtually anything with an Internet connection.
RYAN JACOB, PORTFOLIO MANAGER, THE INTERNET FUND: We're still in the early stages of the growth of the Internet as a mass market medium. Today only 25 percent of all us households are online. If you believe that number will approach mass market levels of 60, 70, 80 percent, we still have a ways to go.
MILLER: But Jacob warns it can be hard to value Internet stocks since many of these companies don't expect to be profitable for several years. In general, he says, investors should stick with companies with strong brand names and market shares. His top picks are America Online, Yahoo!, and Amazon.com. The rush to go online is also expected to benefit personal computer makers like Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Gateway (NYSE:GTW).
LOUIS MAZZUCCHELLI, COMPUTER ANALYST, GERARD KLAUER MATTISON: They left 1998 with good momentum. They've got good new product pipelines. They both have innovative marketing programs that try and broaden their reach beyond just selling a box to a consumer.
MILLER: Mazzucchelli also likes Dell and Compaq. He says both stand to benefit as companies rush to upgrade their systems by the end of the year.
MAZZUCCHELLI: We still have a robust corporate upgrade cycle. Every three years or so corporations tend to turn over their PCs en masse because they get obsolete. And that's continuing. That's actually accelerated a little this year because of concerns about the year 2000.
MILLER: But some Wall Street pros say the best opportunities are in tech areas that have been largely ignored. Technology analyst Bob Walberg likes disk drive companies like Seagate (NYSE:SEG), Quantum (NASDAQ:QNTM), and Read-Rite (NASDAQ:RDRT).
ROBERT WALBERG, TECHNOLOGY ANALYST, BRIEFING.COM: This is a group that has just begun its recovery process from about a year that had a very deep down cycle. So we expect earnings momentum to really pick up in this group and the comparison periods are very favorable for them.
MILLER: A recovery in the Asian economies could provide a modest boost to the technology sector this year. But analysts note that less than 20 percent of revenues for PC companies come from the region. The percentages are even lower for Internet and software companies. Erika Miller, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT, New York.
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