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Technology Stocks : Qualcomm Incorporated (QCOM) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Poet who wrote (55239)	12/20/1999 4:01:00 PM
From: Manx	Respond to of 152472

QCOM and Mutual Funds Dec 20, 1999 Dresdner Globetrots for Tech Growth Staff Writer: Craig Schneider 12/20/99 The international markets may not be the first place many investors turn to when looking for fresh technology plays. Afterall, neither the European nor Japanese markets have been stellar performers in recent years. But this is changing. Japan is slowly emerging from a 10-year recession and mutual funds loading up on Japanese stocks have sizzled this year. Meantime, European economies are expected to be even more robust than their Japanese counterpart. Huachen Chen and Walter Price, Jr., the managers of Dresdner RCM Global Technology (NASDAQ:DRGTX - news) fund say they find that valuations abroad are often much lower than those in the U.S. These guys are worth listening to. Since launching the $130-million asset fund in 1995 after managing the technology holdings of the institutional class of the RCM Growth Fund for 10 years, they have racked up some mind-boggling returns. They are up 172% over the past year and bested the S&P 500 Index by 149 percentage points. Year-to-date through Wednesday, the fund returned 144% and also sports a 71% three-year annualized return. The global technology fund?s success has been generated in part by the managers? ability to recognize and get into ?mega trends? ahead of the crowd, says Chen. The fund?s focus has been primarily on fiber optics, wireless communications, storage management and the Internet. About 24% of the portfolio is weighted in foreign companies. ?There are certain companies that are just the leaders in their space,? Chen explains. One perfect example: Finland?s wireless handset manufacturer Nokia (NYSE:NOK - news) . The fund also looks overseas for what he calls ?valuation discrepancies.? Noting that the U.S. has higher valuations, Chen notes: ?Because of our global vantage point, we are able to take advantage of this (gap).? Such was the case when the fund made its first investment in Yahoo!Japan in March, which is 50% owned by Yahoo Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO - news) , and Japan?s venture capital giant Softbank. Yahoo!Japan?s market cap was about $2 billion when they bought it, while Yahoo Inc. had nearly a $40 billion market cap. ?Japan is two years behind us in Internet development and half the population,? Chen says. And given Yahoo!Japan?s similar strong market share position with its U.S. counterpart, Chen expected it to reach a $20 billion market cap in a few years, but the stock has already surpassed that target, he says. However, as some Japanese valuations escalated, the fund cut its exposure. ?Some of the valuations have gotten to a point where they may indeed be higher than the rest of the world,? Chen says. Other companies that have fared well for the fund include Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM - news) and Check Point Software Technologies (NASDAQ:CHKP - news) . Qualcomm will be ?the standard bearer for wireless technology for years to come,? Chen says. He?s enthusiastic about the sale of the company?s handset business, and he also believes that China will become a meaningful market for the company?s CMDA wireless technology. Chen calls Israel-based Check Point?s market for network security and virtual private networks a ?very dynamic area.? ?I continue to think the Wall Street estimate is low for what the company can earn,? he adds. The fund has also invested in Freeserve Plc (NASDAQ:FREE - news) , the United Kingdom?s leading Internet service provider. Back in the U.S., Chen likes JDS Uniphase (NASDAQ:JDSU - news) , a leader in advanced fiber optic components, and one of the funds? top-five holdings. But this powerhouse, which is up over 700% for the year, was a stock the fund started buying more than four years ago when Uniphase, a provider of active components, such as lasers and transmitters, was flying solo. The fund also bought into Canada-based JDS Fitel in January before the July merger. ?And we looked for additional ways to play the trend,? Chen says, noting that the portfolio now has some five to six other optics companies. The fund?s 266% turnover rate is a risk investors have learned to live with. Chen concedes that the fund bought Softbank at the beginning of the year and sold it in the summer after it had run up, only to watch its stock continue to climb. ?It turned out to be too early,? he said. To keep the growth coming, the fund diversifies across market capitalization, industries and investing styles, from momentum and value to growth and turnaround plays. The portfolio typically holds an average of 60 names with no one stock comprising more than 5% of assets. About 30% of assets are in the top 10 holdings, says Chen. Bottom Line: Managers Huachen Chen and Walter Price, Jr. have found growth on three continents and in a variety of asset classes and have filled their portfolio with a number of hyper-performing technology plays. For more in-house professional stock analysis and commentary, visit us at Individual Investor Online.

To: Poet who wrote (55239)	12/20/1999 4:35:00 PM
From: DOUG H	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 152472

OT OT <<<Is anyone else finding SI "sticky" today? I'm having trouble with it>>> I still use the old SI and I'm no longer getting even the delayed quotes. Are they gone for good?

To: Poet who wrote (55239)	12/20/1999 4:43:00 PM
From: Uncle Frank	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 152472

>> I don't think discussions about the relative merits of LEAPs vs. short term calls is tedious at all. I found the discussion of Anna's hummingbirds to be more fun <g>. Not many appreciate the time advantage of LEAPS, and I'm not trying to recruit anyone to this way of investing. I jumped in because of the reaction to V's comments about his upcoming play, which is described in Roth's book as "stock substitution therapy". It's a clever way to take 2/3s of your investment off the table while maintaining your profit potential, but requires an appreciation of the underlying differences between LEAPS and calls. As soon as you and Jill start your options thread, we'll have an appropriate venue for that type of discussion. uf