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Technology Stocks : Cisco Systems, Inc. (CSCO) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: elmatador who wrote (28518)	10/2/1999 9:21:00 AM
From: Zoltan!	Respond to of 77400

Dow Jones Newswires -- October 1, 1999 DJ TIP SHEET: Northern Trust Select Equity Likes Tech Stks By Ann Keeton CHICAGO (Dow Jones)--For a fund manager, "it's more fun to be tightly focused with fewer stocks," said Bob Streed, portfolio manager of Northern Trust's Select Equity Fund. Streed's large-cap fund is one of the family of 23 no-load mutual funds managed by Chicago's Northern Trust. However, as large caps this year have lost some of their luster, Streed has been picking stocks based on risk as well as rewards. To spread the risk, he has taken the prudent step of increasing the number of stocks in the fund to 90 from the typical 70. "We want to have a smaller position in more stocks," he said. Nearly one-third of the stocks in the fund are technology issues. The fund is rated five stars by Morningstar, which puts its year-to-date return at 8.53%. Northern Trust introduced the fund in 1994. Streed said in the current interest-rate environment, he doesn't see a lot of upside potential for large caps. However, he pointed to a few favorites he expects to do well. Some of Streed's top picks for the fund include technology leaders like Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO), EMC Corp. (EMC), Sun Microsystems Inc. (SUNW), and Intel Corp. (INTC). Cisco continues to make inroads in the e-commerce sector and has the third-largest capitalization in the Nasdaq index at $230 billion. The stock is trading around 67 1/2, off from the 52-week high of 73 9/16 set earlier in the month. The low was 20 9/16 last October. Shares of EMC, which makes computer data storage systems, shot up more than 600% last year. Recently trading at 72 7/16, off a 52-week high in September of 75 5/8, with a 52-week low of 20 27/32 set in October of last year. Sun Microsystems, the computer hardware and software maker, recently traded at an all-time high of 95 3/4 after getting a boost this week from analyst Amit Chopra at Credit Suisse First Boston, who increased his expectation for the company's 2001 earnings. The 52-week low was 19 1/2 last October. Friday afternoon, the shares were off 1 3/4 at 91 1/4. Intel, the computer hardware maker that this week announced a plan to invest $1 billion in business Web sites through a variety of Internet partners, is trading around 77 1/16, off a 52-week high set earlier this month of 89 1/2, and up from last October's low of 37 29/32. Outside the tech sector, Streed pointed to two potential winners, Tyco International Ltd. (TYC) and Elan Corp. PLC (ELN). Tyco continues on an acquisitions tear, this week saying it will buy an electromechanical components unit of Siemens AG for $1.1 billion, making electronics the largest part of Tyco's business. Already this year Tyco acquired two other businesses in the sector for $14.2 billion in cash and stock. Recently trading at 101 15/16, the shares hit a 52-week high of 105 7/8 in August, up from a low of 40 1/4 last October. Irish drug maker Elan rounds out Streed's list of stocks to watch. Elan has made a number of acquisitions in the last two years to expand its drug delivery business into a full-line pharmaceutical company. The stock, traded on the New York Stock exchange as an American depository receipt, was recently quoted at 32 3/4, down from a high of 43 15/16 in March. In April, the stock hit a 52-week low of 24 5/8. The fund made some major adjustments this spring when large-cap stocks began to lag some mid- and small-cap issues. Streed said he shifted out of the retail, drug and telephone sectors in favor of more biotech, semiconductor and industrial stocks. By sector, the Select Equity Fund has 28% in technology, 16% in financials and 13% in industrials. Top five holdings are Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), 3.9%; General Electric, (GE) 3.2%; Wal-Mart Stores (WMT), 2.2%; International Business Machines Corp. (IBM), 2.1%; and Tyco International, 2.0% interactive.wsj.com