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Technology Stocks : George Gilder - Forbes ASAP -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jack Hartmann who wrote (4264)	5/12/2000 10:34:00 PM
From: Jack Hartmann	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 5853

Gilder Tech Report Sparks Shares of Agilent Technologies By DANIELLE SESSA THE WALL STREET JOURNAL INTERACTIVE EDITION George Gilder hasn't lost his Midas touch. Even with technology issues trapped in a bear market, bullish comments from the telecommunications guru can still send stocks into hyperdrive. Shares of Agilent Technologies Inc. surged 17% Friday after Mr. Gilder's monthly report praised the company's optical-networking gear. Aglient, which was also helped by suggestions that it may be added to the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index, jumped $13.1875 to $89.875 in 4 p.m. trading on the New York Stock Exchange. About 9.7 million shares changed hands, six times the stock's average daily volume. This month's Gilder Technology Report praised Agilent's new Champagne switch, calling it the "most impressive optical cross-connect switch." The report, which costs $295 a year, was striking because Agilent is primarily known as a maker of test-and-measurement equipment, not optical-networking gear. Shares of other optical-networking firms have enjoyed eye-popping run-ups this year -- JDS Uniphase Corp., for instance, has risen nearly fivefold in the past 12 months. Terayon Communication Systems Inc., which was up 67% through Thursday, tacked on another 18% Friday after Mr. Gilder highlighted its supplier agreement to cable provider Adelphia Communications Corp. Once the latest issue of the report became available online around lunchtime, Agilent shares shot up. Shares of the Palo Alto, Calif., company jumped about $13 to its intraday high of $98 in just 20 minutes. Chatter on Internet message boards devoted to Mr. Gilder and his stock picks also started to pick up around the same time. Favorable mentions about Novell Inc. and Globalstar Telecommunications Inc. in a December 1999 report sparked the stocks of the two companies the day the report was released. Last year, six of the 10 best-performing stocks in the S&P 500 were Gilder picks. Some of Mr. Gilder's recommendations include optical-networker JDS Uniphase Inc., mobile-phone technology maker Qualcomm Corp. and Sun Microsystems Inc. To be sure, not all of Mr. Gilder's picks have fared very well so far this year. Qualcomm, after gaining about 2,600% in 1999, is down about 40% so far this year. But Friday's activity in Agilent underscores the effect his words can have on a stock in the short-run. A spokesman for Agilent said the company doesn't comment on stock-price movement, "especially with earnings coming out next week.'' John Jones, a Salomon Smith Barney analyst, said the Gilder newsletter highlighted Agilent as a player in the communications market. "This is a company that has an unbelievably significant depth of technology and its got very deep tech roots and significant contributions in both optical wireless and communications markets, all of which are very high growth markets,'' Mr. Jones said. Agilent used to be the test-and-measurement arm of Hewlett-Packard Co., but separated from its parent through with an initial public offering of stock in November 1999. Agilent shares have come under pressure of late because 380 million shares of Agilent will be distributed to H-P shareholders on June 2. Agilent was also helped Friday by speculation that it might be added to the S&P 500 when the H-P shares are distributed. Stocks often rise when they are added to the S&P 500, as index-fund managers buy the shares to accurately reflect the new index make-up. Goldman analyst Deane Dray brought up the likelihood that Agilent would be added to the benchmark index in a research note Friday morning. Mr. Dray also said he expected Agilent to report better-than-expected earnings next week. "I made noise this morning and then around noon I think word got out about the Gilder report,'' Mr. Dray said in an interview. "He is saying constructive things about their photonic-switching devices. It certainly helps when you have George Gilder putting an exclamation mark behind what you say.'' Write to Danielle Sessa at danielle.sessa@wsj.com ************* Getting to be like Buffet or Soros when they added a stock into their portfolio. Jack