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Biotech / Medical : Novartis -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sonki who wrote (101)	11/8/1997 10:14:00 PM
From: Tom Wilkes	Respond to of 296

Hi sonki, In addition to my own stocks (we think alike re Novartis), I also manage the portfolio of my family's small company. We just added to our position in Pfizer. We, and I, have lots of BMY, but we have had it a long time. It has had a good run. We also went after a little SGP 9 months ago. No MRK or LLY. Looks like Novartis is next for me, personally. As for value, I noted on the ML report you sent me that estimated '98 P/E is down from '97. I am not economist enough to know, but I sense that the effects of the giant merger are just now beginning to bear fruit. The dust is settling and coming months will afford many good opportunities to buy at a reasonable price. Have you looked at Roche, Glaxo, or Smithkline Beecham? How about ICN Pharm; they are American, and also less stable, but are into growing markets in E. Europe and S. America. I considered them. Like you, though, I am most interested in stocks that are "going to be around in 20 years," and in feeling comfortable about accumulating positions in them over time. My own little personal plan does allow one speculative stock at a time, but almost all the others are of the BMY, Coca-Cola variety, or are at least as "certain" as MSFT, INTC, CSCO. I also have Schlumberger (my favorite stock these days), BP (you never know what oil is going to do), and my latest discovery, Ericsson (which I conservatively chose over Nokia after careful study). The one exception is Ciena, into which I was lured by an article in a recent issue of Forbes. I suppose I could have gone with Lucent, but I guess I went on instinct (connections to CPQ, particular niche in fiber optics, etc.). So far, so good. I am now eyeing SAP, but Novartis is definitely next on the buy list. Did you see the mutual funds list I put together a few postings back? Or the additional info I posted yesterday? two days ago?