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Strategies & Market Trends : VOLTAIRE'S PORCH-MODERATED -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Voltaire who wrote (35179)	4/3/2001 9:31:47 AM
From: Voltaire	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 65232

< Previous \| Next > [ First \| Last \| Msg List ] Msg #: Reply Post Boards Search symbol lookup NEWP Snapshot NEWP 26.51 +0.00 More Info: Real-time quote, Options, News, Profile, Research, Insider, SEC quotes delayed 20 mins - disclaimer Symbol Lookup Track the NEWP Board Add to My Yahoo Ignore this User \| Report Abuse NEWP ....TOP STOCK PICK by: missed777 04/03/01 08:44 am EDT Msg: 23393 of 23395 Digital Future Fund tries to right the ship By Shawn Langlois, CBS.MarketWatch.com Last Update: 1:00 AM ET Apr 3, 2001 SAN FRANCISCO (CBS.MW) - The notion of investing in a technology-sector fund in this market could cause the average stock jockey to break out in hives. Not Michael Cohen. His Alpha Analytics Digital Future Fund's uber-rollercoaster ride began in December, 1999. when the newly launched fund rode the bull market's closing weeks to a 100 percent first-quarter return -- enough to earn top tech-sector fund ranking from Morningstar. Relative to the faltering market, good times held throughout the year as the fund closed 2000 with a cumulative 13 percent loss, compared to the Nasdaq's horrid 39 percent trouncing. Yet when things go sour in tech land, the fund's 1.5 beta exposes it to extreme fluctuations. For instance, it's fallen 52 percent since Jan. 1. The severe hit comes in the form of an imbedded tax-loss, somewhat unique in the world of technology funds: "Buying into this fund now would allow the investor to double or triple their money before they have to pay taxes," Cohen said in an interview. "We wouldn't have to throw off taxable distribution until we are higher than our cost basis." He hopes to ride a rebounding Nasdaq well above that "cost-basis" to the kind of gains his fund rejoiced in the immediate wake of its inception. His top choice, Newport Corp. (NEWP: news, msgs, alerts) , was a test and measure company for the fiber-optic industry that transformed itself into a provider of equipment to automate the manufacturing of optics. "I'm amazed to see how a company could evolve to such an extent in only a year's time," Cohen said. "Despite the rough run of the fiber optic companies, they'll certainly be investing to help automate the manufacturing of their processes." I will POST this article a couple times today NEWP is a stellar company! Downside is very limited from here, <EOM>

To: Voltaire who wrote (35179)	4/3/2001 10:05:49 AM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 65232

Salomon Advises Clients to Buy Stocks Tuesday April 3, 9:25 am Eastern Time By Nick Olivari NEW YORK (Reuters) - Salomon Smith Barney investment strategists advised clients to buy more stocks on Tuesday, saying financial sector shares will be the next market leaders, even as they cut year-end targets for the major indices. Tobias Levkovich and John Manley increased the weighting in the firm's model portfolio to 70 percent equities from 65 percent, cut bonds to 25 percent from 30 percent, and left cash unchanged at 5 percent. They cut the year-end price target on the Standard & Poor's 500 index to 1400 from 1450, and on the Dow Jones Industrial Average to 11,400 from 11,750. Levkovich and Manley said though they are more bullish on stocks ``we would still warn investors that we do not anticipate any major recovery in the technology sector'' because of excess capacity. ``Much of tech wreck seems behind us, but we are unlikely to see more than a near term trading rally in the tech sector,'' Tobias said in a note to clients. Levkovich and Manley suggested economic growth will be stoked by central banks around the world cutting interest rates, alongside governments cutting taxes. They see finance stocks as being the next market leaders driven in part, by lower interest rates. ``While we believe that many investors are still longing for the technology sector to recover and lead the overall equity market higher, we would point out that yesterday's leaders typically do not come back and re-establish leadership,'' Tobias said. ``In fact, we think that the money center names should begin to strengthen in the next couple of months.'' Salomon added Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC - news) to the Salomon Smith Barney Recommended List, and told investors to overweight the financial sector. Salomon's recommended list now includes Wells Fargo, Bank of New York (NYSE:BK - news), Chubb Corp (NYSE:CB - news), Freddie Mac (NYSE:FRE - news), Merrill Lynch (NYSE:MER - news), and John Hancock (NYSE:BTO - news). Other names they like include Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MWD - news), Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS - news), and JP Morgan Chase (NYSE:JPM - news). They also recommend investors overweight the transportation sector, mainly railroads, and capital goods sector, such as General Electric (NYSE:GE - news) and Emerson Electric (NYSE:EMR - news), and utilities. Salomon advises a market weight for the technology and health care names, but an underweight view for the basic materials, telecom, consumer staples and energy sectors. Salomon cut price targets on the S&P 500 and Dow average to reflect the firm's 2001 earnings-per-share estimate of $53 for the S&P 500. While, Salamon's targets reflect a 20 percent jump from the current levels for the S&P 500 and the Dow average, the year-over-year gain would be only a 6 percent advance in 2001, Tobias said. , ``We would argue that the go-go days of the market are unlikely to return in the near term and that investors need to readjust their expectations to more reasonable returns,'' Levkovich and Manley said. ``Nonetheless, from current levels, we would highlight that attractive returns are attainable.'' Salomon was the latest Wall Street firm to cut year-end targets for the major indices. Lehman Bros investment strategist Jeffrey Applegate cut forecasts for the S&P 500 index to 1,400 from 1,600 last week. and the Dow to 11,000 from 12,500. J.P. Morgan Securities chief equity strategist Douglas Cliggott cut his year-end forecast for the S&P 500 to 1,300 from 1,400 last week because of lower-than-expected corporate earnings.