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To: Dealer who wrote (2157)	9/19/2000 9:40:17 AM
From: Dealer	Respond to of 65232

CSCO/SEBL--Tech titans hog spotlight at BofA conference By Dan Briody Redherring.com, September 19, 2000 The heavy hitters weighed in early on Monday at the Banc of America Securities investment conference in heat-wave oppressed San Francisco, with reports from Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL), Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT), Cisco Systems (Nasdaq: CSCO), and Siebel Systems (Nasdaq: SEBL) getting the weeklong conference off to a decidedly "techie" start. And if you believe any of what their companies' executives had to say, there is a whole lot more upside to technology in the coming years. Each company did their best to spin a positive outlook for the hundreds of institutional investors in attendance, and despite some occasional nail-biting over quarterly earnings and overvaluations, most attendees felt good about the market's prospects. "I'm not too concerned with either right now," said Ian Murray, chief executive officer of Tamarack Asset Management, a technology hedge fund, referring to earnings and lofty tech stock prices. "That's just what these things cost now." POTSHOTS The conference got under way with some fireworks as Oracle executive vice president Gary Bloom and Siebel CEO Tom Siebel traded barbs in their respective public addresses. After defending his company against recent criticism for weak growth in its applications division, Mr. Bloom pointed out that Siebel was unable to install its software as fast as Oracle because it was "too complex." Oracle has a program called Fast Forward, which the company claims enables them to set up complete e-business solutions in as little as 25 days, giving them, they feel, a competitive edge. Not known to mince words, Mr. Siebel did not wait long to return fire against his rival and former employer, Oracle. In his presentation, Mr. Siebel listed the top players in the application software industry, noting that Siebel anticipated a jump from second to first in rank in the next four quarters. When coming to Oracle, Mr. Siebel hit them where it hurts: "I think they are three, but they may be four or five based on current performance." As usual, Mr. Siebel told a compelling story about Siebel, which has consistently been among the fastest-growing companies in the world. In addressing the firm's phenomenal growth, as well as the market as a whole, Mr. Siebel modestly admitted, "We're just a company that found itself in the right place, at the right time, and managed not to foul up the opportunity." In addition, Mr. Siebel sees the growth continuing during what he calls "a fundamental recognition that things are changing. And the way we are going to do business is any way our customer wants to." Mr. Siebel believes that multiple sales channels, all integrated into a common support infrastructure, will be the future of business. BIG GUNS Cisco and Microsoft brought to the podium very similar core messages, both selling attendees the idea that rapid growth will indeed continue in their respective markets and quelling concerns that either would be standing still. As if anyone thought they might. Mike Volpi, senior vice president and chief strategy officer at Cisco, is the man responsible for the company's unprecedented acquisition tear over the past six years. So, not surprisingly, ears perked up around the packed room when he opened his presentation by saying, "We have too many billion-dollar markets to go after." Mr. Volpi followed up by offering general areas of interest the company thought were especially compelling. Among the markets that Cisco is targeting are content-delivery networks, optical networking, and 3G/IP wireless. Mr. Volpi said of the current opportunities facing the company right now, those areas offer the most growth. He termed them "tornado markets," presumably because of their ability to rapidly transform landscapes. Microsoft chief financial officer John Connors had a slightly more difficult sell, given his company's stock is currently dwelling at around $63, 47 percent off its 52-week high of $119. Mr. Connors touted Microsoft's 87 percent gross margins and the fact that 42 percent of its revenues come from large businesses. He also said that he expected its consumer and business services divisions to grow at around 65 percent. Significantly less impressive was the 15 percent growth Microsoft is expecting in its desktop divisions, regarding which Mr. Connors said the company wants to "de-couple the software growth rates from the PC growth rates." But he offered no details on how they would do that. What may have concerned investors even more was that he included "piracy improvements" as another growth opportunity for Microsoft. With piracy rates of over 90 percent in Asia, Mr. Connors views it as another market opportunity, but he again offered no details as to how the company would be able to solve the problem, short of throwing offenders in jail. He wasn't joking, either. Ultimately, Microsoft's main problem sounded a lot like Cisco's, when Mr. Connors said, "The hardest problem is figuring out which software application market to go after." We should all have such problems. So despite the weeks-long sell-off that continues to drive down the Nasdaq, attendees persevered with bullish sentiments. But throughout all the comments on Monday, from the companies themselves to the analysts and the portfolio managers, you could sense a note of concern tempering their enthusiasm. Or maybe it was just the heat. Discuss this story, and the financial services sector, in the Financial Services Sector discussion forum, or check out forums, video, and events at the Discussions home page.

To: Dealer who wrote (2157)	9/19/2000 11:32:17 AM
From: Dealer	Respond to of 65232

<FONT COLOR=BLUE>MARKET SNAPSHOT-- (11:12 A.M.)Nifty rebound for Nasdaq Chip stocks on fire By Julie Rannazzisi, CBS.MarketWatch.com Last Update: 11:12 AM ET Sep 19, 2000 NewsWatch Latest headlines NEW YORK (CBS.MW) - The Nasdaq staged a nice rebound early Tuesday from Monday's depressed levels, with buyers feasting on tech shares, which came under significant selling pressure in previous sessions. Tech stocks witnessed the best buying interest, erasing the brunt of the steep losses suffered on Monday. Chip stocks were the big gainers within the tech group, but Internet and networking issues also managed a respectable advance. The broader market enjoyed gains in the financial arena, led by bank stocks, as well as biotech shares. But all other sectors were generally lower, led by paper, retail, utility, oil and oil service shares. Crude oil prices edged down on Tuesday after some more muscle-flexing on Monday. October crude slipped 38 cents to $36.50. The Dow Jones Industrials Average ($DJ: news, msgs) erased 12 points, or 0.1 percent, to 10,796, relinquishing the mild gains posted right after the start of trading. The Dow continues to be held down by profit concerns, with one of its old-economy components warning of a shortfall after the close Monday. In fact, Alcoa (AA: news, msgs) said third-quarter earnings will be in the range of 40 cents to 43 cents a share, less than the 49 cents per share expected by First Call. The company blamed softening in the transportation, building, construction and distribution markets as well as higher energy costs for the shortfall. The stock fell $1.56 below its NYSE close to $26.69 and was one of the Dow's biggest downside movers Other Dow shares moving lower included Wal-Mart, Caterpillar, Honeywell and International Paper while the index's frontrunners were Intel, Microsoft and J.P. Morgan. The Nasdaq Composite ($COMPQ: news, msgs) put on 61 points, or 1.6 percent, to 3,787 while the Nasdaq 100 Index ($NDX: news, msgs) rallied 83 points, or 2.3 percent, to 3,668. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index ($SPX: news, msgs) rose 0.6 percent while the Russell 2000 Index ($RUT: news, msgs) of small-capitalization stocks edged up 0.1 percent. Separately, volume stood at 245 million on the NYSE and at 414 million on the Nasdaq Stock Market. Market breadth was mixed, losers beating winners by 12 to 11 on the NYSE and advancers outnumbering decliners by 17 to 15 on the Nasdaq. Earnings news Goldman Sachs (GS: news, msgs) posted third-quarter earnings of $1.62 a share, well ahead of the First Call estimate of $1.51 a share. The stock was up 6 cents to $118.63. See full story. Another company in the financial arena reporting Tuesday included A.G. Edwards, which earned 93 cents in its second quarter, beating the First Call estimate of 90 cents a share. The company made 86 cents in the year-ago quarter. The stock (AGE: news, msgs) rose 56 cents to $52. Financial stocks were a modestly higher, with the S&P Bank Index ($BIX: news, msgs) up 2.0 percent and the Amex Securities Broker/Dealer Index ($XBD: news, msgs) rising 0.9 percent. In other earnings news, FedEx (FDX: news, msgs) reported first-quarter earnings of 58 cents a share, surpassing the First Call estimate of 54 cents a share. The company made 52 cents in the year-ago period. Shares shed 33 cents to $38.28. Sector movers The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index ($SOX: news, msgs) rallied 3.3 percent in early trading and was the biggest upside mover in the tech sector. The semis, which investors look to for leadership within technology, have been on shaky ground in recent weeks. In fact, the semiconductor index lost 14 percent of its value in September following a percent 16 climb in August. Among the big winners, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD: news, msgs) shot up 8 percent, or $2.13 to $28.63, Intel (INTC: news, msgs) climbed $3 to $58.81 and Micron Technology (MU: news, msgs) jumped 7 percent, or $4.19 to $62.69. Chip equipment makers were also heading north with a vengeance, with Applied Materials (AMAT: news, msgs) up $2.44 to $74.69 and Novellus (NVLS: news, msgs) up 5 percent, or $2.75 to $59.25. Treasury focus Government prices were mixed, with long issues in a modest advance while short-dated securities struggled. The 10-year Treasury added 1/32 to yield ($TNX: news, msgs) 5.87 percent and the 30-year Treasury bond gained 1/4 to yield ($TYX: news, msgs) 5.93 percent. See Bond Report. On the economic front, August housing starts edged up 0.3 percent to a 1.531 million rate, less than the 1.55 million rate expected from economists surveyed by CBS MarketWatch.com. Building permits fell 2.8 percent to a 1.468 million rate. See full story and view Economic Preview, economic calendar and forecasts and historical economic data. In the currency arena, dollar/yen (C_JPY: news, msgs) edged up 0.1 percent to 106.94 while euro/dollar (C_EUR: news, msgs) shed 0.1 percent to 0.8535. The euro reached a fresh all-time low against the dollar in intra-day dealings on Tuesday, falling to 0.8489. Multinationals, including Gillette (G: news, msgs) on Monday, cited the sagging euro as reason for a profit shortfall in its third quarter. "The strength in the dollar adds to the list of forces creating a drag on U.S. corporate profitability," noted Bridgewater Associates. "In the near future, corporations will be faced with paying the tab caused by today's heavy capital investment, which is being financed through debt. Add to that the surge in oil prices -- which is having the impact of squeezing profit margins. With these drags in place, it seems unlikely that U.S. corporations will be able to meet up to the lofty earnings growth that the marketplace is expecting," Bridgewater said. ..Julie Rannazzisi is markets editor for CBS.MarketWatch.com.