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Technology Stocks : Dell Technologies Inc. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: kemble s. matter who wrote (134497)	6/24/1999 9:21:00 PM
From: Ian@SI	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 176387

The following companies had the largest decreases in short interest: Dell Computer Corp. fell 24,671,724 shares to 30,629,093;

To: kemble s. matter who wrote (134497)	6/24/1999 10:31:00 PM
From: Mohan Marette	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 176387

Abby Cohen says ignore short term noise,it is time to BUY likes computer Tech. Hello Kemble: In case you missed Abby's outlook for the market. ============================== Goldman's Cohen Says Bull Market in U.S. Stocks Intact, Earnings Strong By Phil Serafino Goldman's Cohen Says Bull Market in U.S. Stocks Is Intact New York, June 24 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. stock market, stuck in neutral for the past three months, has plenty of fuel for further gains this year, according to Abby Joseph Cohen, the investment strategist at Goldman, Sachs & Co. The U.S. economy shows no signs of overheating, and companies are churning out surprisingly strong increases in quarterly earnings, Cohen said in an interview set to air on Bloomberg Television tomorrow. Cohen's views on the financial markets are widely followed because she has been correctly bullish on U.S. stocks for much of this decade. Now, she's saying that stocks will continue to move higher, though not at the rapid pace of the past few years. ''Our expectation is that corporate profits will grow for the remainder of 1999 and 2000,'' Cohen said. ''It would be very unusual for that to happen without stock prices moving higher.'' Cohen's year-end forecast for the Standard & Poor's 500 Index is 1325, and a year from now she expects the benchmark index to reach 1385. The index yesterday closed at 1316. Cohen boosted the 12-month forecast from 1350 to 1385 in May. She's in no hurry to boost her estimates for profit growth or the S&P 500, though. ''What we always to try to do in this process is try to stay conservative,'' she said. ''I would rather wait and see what the second quarter (flow of profit reports) looks like. I like to wait until I have big chunks of data before we make adjustments.'' For now she's sticking to her forecast of 7 to 8 percent growth in profit from operations for companies in the S&P 500 both this year and next. ''At this point it looks like those profit estimates will be going up,'' she said. The consensus among Wall Street strategists is for 12.1 percent growth in 1999 and 9.2 percent in 2000. Fed Outlook U.S. stocks were undervalued at the start of the decade, Cohen said, which explains the outsized gains of the past few years. The S&P 500 returned an average of 18 percent a year in the 1990s, and 30 percent annually in the four years from 1995 through 1998. Now, with stocks at about fair value based on the outlook for inflation, interest rates and profits, returns of 8 to 12 percent a year can be expected, said Cohen, who chairs Goldman's investment strategy committee. The S&P 500 has been bouncing between about 1300 and 1350 since the beginning of April, held by back by concern that inflation and interest rates would shoot up as economies around the world gain strength. Cohen, though, reiterated her view that inflation isn't about to surge and push interest rates much higher. The recent rise in intermediate- and long-term rates already reflects the slight increase in inflation that she's forecasting, and the likelihood that the Federal Reserve will raise short-term interest rates next week, Cohen said. Thus, ''Federal Reserve action will not be harmful to the stock market,'' although a temporary decline is possible in the aftermath of the news, she said. ''To the extent that the Federal Reserve convinces folks that they're focusing on inflation and taking actions to ensure that the (economic) cycle lasts as long as possible, it could be helpful,'' she said of the expected rate increase. ''Maybe not right away, but over the intermediate and long term.'' Cohen recommends that investors consider buying U.S. corporate bonds, which have fallen in price and rise in yield recently. Stocks also are a good buy, especially in financial services, computer technology, communications, and computer services. Time to Buy Cohen's reputation grew in the past few years as she urged investors to buy stocks at a time when many analysts were forecasting further declines. On Oct. 28, 1997, for example, she recommended investors boost their stockholdings a day after the S&P 500 plunged 6.8 percent. Last year, she made a similar call on Sept. 1 after the index had dropped 19 percent in a month and a half. Cohen said she can make such calls because she ignores ''short-term market noise'' and focuses on longer term economic and corporate profit trends. Those continue to be positive for stocks, and she sees no clouds on the horizon for the next 12 to 18 months, Cohen said.