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Technology Stocks : Global Crossing - GX (formerly GBLX) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: mts362 who wrote (4125)	1/27/2000 3:05:00 PM
From: Lawrence Shoemaker	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 15615

my margin is at 35% and i dont know which stock to sell. ive been getting many fed calls the past few weeks.

To: mts362 who wrote (4125)	1/27/2000 6:09:00 PM
From: TechMkt	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 15615

Checkout the bolded sections. Deutsce Telcom looking for someone with an international network. GBLX is expensive, but worth it. Fez ___________________________ Thursday January 27, 5:55 pm Eastern Time WRAPUP-Telekom in spotlight after Global One exit (Wraps earlier stories adds new analysts' comments) By Daniel Simpson FRANKFURT, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Deutsche Telekom AG may have lined its coffers by ending its money-losing Global One cross border partnership, but it has to spend soon on building a similar platform if it wants to become a truly global player. Telekom is Europe's biggest phone company, but analysts said on Thursday it had to move quickly or bitter rival France Telecom , which bought out its former German partner and fellow Global One member Sprint (NYSE:FON - news) for $3.88 billion, may prove instead to have made the shrewder deal. Market speculation produced a flurry of potential buys for Germany's former state monopoly, with a more focused Cable & Wireless Plc (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: CW.L) Telekom's most likely foreign target as it bids to offset stagnant domestic sales. ``Given what's happened to Global One, Deutsche Telekom are even more keen than before -- they are without an international strategy,' one industry source said. The German group, which pocketed $2.76 billion from its Global One exit and stands to raise billions more from plans to list its prized Internet and cellphone units, made an immediate pledge to launch a new wave of international expansion. But analysts warned rapid global telecoms consolidation left Telekom little breathing space and said investor enthusiasm for the sector meant the few possible targets would not come cheap. Shares in both Deutsche Telekom and its French rival -- Europe's number three phone group -- surged more than five percent as the market tried to decide which had come off best. France Telecom said it would make Global One profitable by 2002 on sales of $2 billion, boosting investor confidence in a deal seen as a springboard for strengthening its international presence after major blows to its expansion plans last year. Cable & Wireless, which has extensive Asian interests, and former Spanish monopoly Telefonica also posted strong stock market gains as bid speculation stalked the sector. CLOCK TICKING ON TELEKOM'S GLOBAL AMBITION Despite stacking up losses since its launch four years ago, Global One was valuable, analysts said, because it promised incremental revenues from providing voice and data services to big multinational corporate clients in more than 65 countries. ``They (France Telecom) have got one hell of a management challenge in Global One, but at least it's now wholly owned and they have got a good network, it just needs knitting together,' the industry source said. Deutsche Telekom is itself active in about 60 countries, but now lacks the same sort of seamless international platform. ``It will have to start a similar strategy again from scratch,' Merck Finck analyst Theo Kitz said. It has faced increasing pressure to pull off a major cross-border deal since its failure to link up with former Italian state monopoly Telecom Italia last year. That effort, which soured relations with France Telecom because Telekom failed to inform its then-partner about the move, would have strengthened the German group's European base but analysts say global reach is what it badly needs. As a result, bid speculation has also centred on worldwide telecoms operators Equant (NYSE:ENT - news) and Global Crossing (NasdaqNM:GBLX - news), but Cable & Wireless remains the market favourite. CABLE & WIRELESS SPECULATION MOUNTS Telekom has no shortage of potential cash for acquisitions, with a planned flotation of its prized Internet arm T-Online expected to value the unit -- Europe's largest Internet service provider with 4.2 million users -- at up to 40 billion euros ($39.8 billion). But it would prefer to avoid prices like the $115 billion MCI Worldcom (NasdaqNM:WCOM - news) paid for Sprint last year, increasing the rationale behind a bid for C&W, which until recently was viewed as a slow-growing old-fashioned telecoms company. Bullish plans to merge its Hong Kong subsidiary with Singapore Telecom and a focus on data have changed market perceptions however, although it is valued at only 3.8 times sales, compared to 30 times for Equant and more than 150 for Global Crossing, Reuters 3000 data showed. ``C&W is a cheap and scarce commodity,' one London-based analyst said. But it wouldn't be that cheap. Its share price has doubled to more than 13 pounds since November as its business focus sharpens and one industry source said any deal would have to value its stock at above 20 pounds, setting a price of at least $75 billion. Telekom would be keen to expand its operations in Asia, analysts said, a region where it already has a stake in Malaysia's TRI/Celcom mobile phone operator and is reportedly interested in Indonesia's Indosat . The German group and SingTel have also discussed pooling regional mobile phone businesses in a bid to become the region's leading company in the sector. COULD FRANCE TELECOM HAVE THE UPPER HAND? But for all Telekom's potential, analysts say its fierce French rival looks a stage closer to the global reach that both crave after shelling out $3.88 billion in cash and $464 million of assumed debt for the 71 percent of Global One it did not own. ``This is a good transaction because it allows France Telecom to participate in the data market at an international level,' said Societe Generale analyst Stefan Sater, who raised his rating on the group's stock to ``buy' after the news. Some analysts questioned whether it had paid over the odds, but others pointed to the better prospects for making the venture profitable by going it alone and noted the increased value of its network after recent improvements. Control of the Global One venture, called into question last year by Sprint's merger with MCI Worldcom and souring relations bewteen its French and German partners, gives France Telecom the chance to expand after a series of missed opportunities. ``Strategically it allows France Telecom to strengthen its position on the international stage, a factor which has become essential since its failure to acquire (Germany's number three mobile operator) E-Plus,' another French analyst said. After losing out to U.S. operator BellSouth (NYSE:BLS - news) and Dutch KPN Telecom over E-Plus (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: VIAG.F) (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: BT.L), the group had cash available and could even launch its own bid for C&W or Spain's Telefonica, he said.