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Strategies & Market Trends : Market Gems-Trading Strong Earnings Growth and Momentum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: puborectalis who wrote (3950)	2/7/2001 12:22:59 AM
From: Jenna	Respond to of 6445

Israeli Tech Sector --> Another 2001 winner has been Orbotek (ORBK), the maker of optical-inspection systems for printed circuit boards. After a 160% run-up in 1999, Orbotek lost 23% in 2000 and has risen 37.5% this year. Analyst Will Manuel at HSBC rated the company a "buy" in new coverage in mid-January. And Orbotek is not the only one -- a handful of other Israeli companies have gotten the thumbs up from Wall Street analysts in recent weeks. The overarching trend seems to be that companies like Checkpoint Software (CHKP) -- with important "need-to-have" technologies -- are the best bets and should continue to perform well. An Old Friend Checkpoint has been a longtime favorite of mine. The company is a global leader in Internet security services with sales concentrated largely abroad in major G7 markets. The stock is already up almost 50% for 2001 -- much of these gains were a result of a three-for-two stock split earlier this month. And, despite last year's high-tech jitters, Checkpoint managed to skyrocket 144% for the year despite the fact that it fell 17% in early November. Checkpoint was rated a new "buy" by Eran Ziv of ABN Amro and maintained a "strong buy" by Stephen Sigmund of Dain Rauscher Wessels. The company has also just posted record results: fourth-quarter earnings was 172% higher than 1999. The billing software for telephone companies that Amdocs (DOX) manufactures is also considered a need-to-have product. Accordingly, the ADR has climbed 24% this year. Though the stock had a rollercoaster 2000, it finished up almost 90%. Boosting the company's performance was the recently announcement that Amdocs will form a partnership with Bell Canada (BCICF) in order to combine a variety of services, such as telephone, Internet and satellite television, on a single bill. Wireless Newcomer A relatively new entrant to the world of high-tech Tel Aviv stocks is wireless-equipment manufacturer Ceragon Networks (CRNT). The company listed in the US last summer and lost 29% in its first six months of trading. However, since the first of the year, Ceragon, while still off from its IPO price, has gained 33%. Analyst Paul Silverstein at Robertson Stephens just reiterated the stock a "buy." A new agreement with Lucent (LU) should hopefully help Ceragon extend its reach into the global market. Rit Technologies (RITT) is also up for the year. After losing 16% in 2000 it has gained 22% this year. Rit develops, manufactures, and sells wiring products and premise and local loop connectivity management systems. Aiding this stock have been recent equipment sales to IBM (IBM) and Deutsche Telecom (DT).