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To: Johnny Canuck who wrote (43377)	6/2/2006 3:14:30 PM
From: Johnny Canuck	Respond to of 67879

Motley Fool Ciena Expands at Its Future's Expense Thursday June 1, 4:43 pm ET By Rich Smith What does it mean when an unprofitable high-tech company like Ciena (Nasdaq: CIEN - News) refuses to spend what it takes to develop new products? On the plus side, it can mean rising margins and apparent progress toward making a net cash profit. On the minus side, though, the company is mortgaging its future. The only thing constant in high technology is change, and depending on last year's technology to drive tomorrow's sales is the surest way to make your products, your business, and your stock obsolete. Everyone up on Wall Street is rejoicing today over the telecom equipment maker's "pro forma profits" and its break-even results under generally accepted accounting principles this quarter. But I can't help but look on the news with foreboding; once again, Ciena slashed spending on research and development. Over the last six months of fiscal 2006, Ciena grew its sales an impressive 27%. The company nearly doubled its gross margin compared to the fiscal first half of 2005, growing it from 25.9% to 45.1%. Ciena also slashed operating costs 22%, shrinking its operating loss in the process. But to this Fool's mind, none of that good news outweighs the additional $12 million Ciena cut from its budget for R&D, a 17% spending decrease from last year. You see, as Ciena was cutting down, several of its competitors were bulking up: Year-over-year change in R&D spending UTStarcom (Nasdaq: UTSI - News) 25% Redback Networks (Nasdaq: RBAK - News) 13% Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO - News) 12% Lucent (NYSE: LU - News) (1%) Tellabs (Nasdaq: TLAB - News) (2%) Nortel (NYSE: NT - News) (40%) All data courtesy of Capital IQ, a division of Standard & Poor's. Data reflects fiscal-year-to-date R&D spending, versus same period from last fiscal year. Add Ciena to the above list, and the company's rightful place becomes No. 6-out-of-7 in its rate of ramping R&D investment. Its place in the rankings doesn't seem to concern Ciena CEO Gary Smith, however. In forecasting the company's future, he said, "We expect market demand will enable us to accelerate our revenue growth in the second half of our fiscal year compared to the first half." That's fine and dandy if all you care about is what happens three months down the road. Foolish investors need to look further, and ask what the future holds for a company that refuses to invest in it. Fool contributor Rich Smith does not own shares of any company named above.

To: Johnny Canuck who wrote (43377)	6/5/2006 7:01:10 PM
From: Return to Sender	Respond to of 67879

Technical Analysis: Selling Intensifies By Paul Shread nl.internet.com Last week's back-to-back 80% upside days are sure starting to look like exhaustion after another 90% downside day today. It can take several such days of heavy selling spread out over some time to form a major bottom, according to the work of Paul Desmond of Lowry's Reports, so it's possible that the market could be in for some tough going for a while. The best all-clear signal at this point would be a 90% upside day closely following a 90% downside day. With the Dow (first chart below) just above the major support level of 11,030, we could get a quick answer tomorrow as to whether the market will break or bounce here. The next support levels are 11,000, 10,950 and 10,870, and resistance is 11,100, 11,200, 11,265-11,300 and 11,330. The Nasdaq (second chart) is faring somewhat better than the Dow here. Support is 2160, 2150 and 2125-2135, and resistance is 2185 and 2200. The S&P (third chart) is also faring relatively well. Support is 1260, 1255 and 1245-1250, and resistance is 1275 and 1281. Long bond yields (fourth chart) crept back above 5% again today.

To: Johnny Canuck who wrote (43377)	6/5/2006 10:24:02 PM
From: Johnny Canuck	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 67879

LCDs to overtake tube TVs in 2009 By Michael Kanellos news.com.com Story last modified Mon Jun 05 12:58:49 PDT 2006 LCD TVs will be the most popular kind of TVs in the world by 2009, according to a new analyst report, meaning they will reach that status much faster than anticipated, thanks to rising sales and better manufacturing. Consumers are picking up LCD TVs, which are based on the same technology found in notebook screens, at a faster rate than expected, according to iSuppli. This year, shipments of these TVs will rise by 74 percent to 46.7 million units, iSuppli said. A few months ago, iSuppli expected only 41.9 million units to ship this year. If the trend continues, LCDs will account for 48 percent of TVs shipped in 2009, while CRTs will account for only 42 percent. By 2010, LCDs will account for 56 percent of TVs shipped. Meanwhile, sales of projection TVs and plasmas will remain a somewhat small part of the overall market. Projection TVs will account for 3 percent of the market by 2009, the same as they do now, while plasma will climb from 3 percent to 7 percent. Ironically, traditional, bulky CRT TVs still continue to provide better picture quality, according to many. They also cost less. Back in 2004, iSuppli predicted that CRTs would account for 70 percent of TVs shipped in 2008. In the first quarter, LCD shipments accounted for 17 percent of TVs shipped. LCD TVs will be one of the hot topics at the Society for Information Display conference taking place in San Francisco this week. Researchers from Philips, Liquavista, Samsung and others will gather to discuss the latest trends coming out of their labs. The marketing folks will be there too. One hot trend: A wide variety of companies will discuss 3D TVs and screens. In other news: Crunch time for wireless? Photos: Putting lasers to work Revelations of the 'seeing machine' News.com Extra: Hard-drive disposal a matter of trust Video: Microsoft's zippy mapping tool The rise in LCD shipments directly relates to declining prices, and that decline can be largely traced to improvements in manufacturing. Samsung, LG. Philips and others have aggressively poured billions into building cutting-edge factories. In these factories, large sheets of glass are spun at high speeds while liquid crystal is poured on them, sort of like spin art in a tightly controlled environment. Prices are coming down because the sheets of glass (from which LCD panels are eventually cut) are getting larger and larger: Some now measure nearly 6 feet per side. The larger the mother glass, the more TV panels can be made simultaneously. Manufacturers also engage in price wars when sales don't meet inflated expectations. Whatever the cause, the prices tend to go inexorably down. From January to May, the average price of 32-inch and 40- and 42-inch LCD TVs fell by 17 percent and 14 percent respectively. LG.Philips remains the world's biggest LCD TV manufacturer, followed by Samsung, China's Chi Mei and AU Optoelectronics, spun out of the Acer family. South Korea produced 44.8 percent of the world's LCD TVs in the fourth quarter, followed by Taiwan at 40.1 percent.