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Strategies & Market Trends : Stock Attack -- A Complete Analysis -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: ViperChick Secret Agent 006.9 who wrote (5774)	2/4/1998 8:45:00 PM
From: Chris	Respond to of 42787

just woke up... latest briefing.com::: <Picture>Tech Stock Analysis <Picture> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Updated for: February 05, 1998 Please note: Briefing.com is provided as an information service only. Charter Media, Inc. and Briefing.com do not make specific trading recommendations or provide individualized investment advice. Readers should make investment decisions based on thorough research and their own investment criteria. See Disclaimer. General Commentary The move to the second and third tier names happening sooner than we expected, as money is flowing into the tech sector at a very rapid pace... Out of the 20 most actively traded stocks Wednesday, 18 were tech firms... High-profile, large cap names were the big winners early and they continue to perform well... Note, Compaq's gain amid extremely heavy volume (44 mln)... But the sharp gains recorded by FORE Systems, Parametric, Vanstar, Micron Electronics, PairGain, Teligent, Veeco Instruments and Asyst Technologies indicate that the tidal wave into techs is now beginning to lift all boats... Improved scope of gains underscores market's renewed confidence in sector... Of course, you don't have to look too far back to realize that market mood shifts between hot and cold on techs with alarming frequency... For now, mood is undeniably bullish... Nasdaq up in 6 of the last 7 sessions, and 7% year-to-date... Software, chip, disk-drive and chip equipment have posted much bigger gains, however... See Chip Equipment update below for an idea of just how bullish tech stocks have been over past month. Computer Systems & Peripherals Brief: Sun Microsystems (+3/8) rumored to be interested in Netscape... However, purchase of NSCP would be out of the norm for SUNW, which typically buys smaller firms that are easier to integrate... Compaq surged another 1 13/16 and was the most actively traded stock on the big board... Big blocks flew across the ticker... Stock should easily move to new high within the next few weeks... That company managed to trade sharply higher despite warning that it sees tough and challenging '98 from Asia-Pacific region shows just how marginalized Asia has become as an issue... Notable laggard in the group - IBM... Stock slumped another 1 1/16 in yesterday's trading... Can't seem to stay above 100... Concern over sluggish revenue growth and feeling that stock losing ground to more aggressive competitors (CPQ/DELL) weighing on stock. Computer Networking Brief: Cisco (+1 9/16) powered to another record high in response to its solid earnings report... BA Robertson Stephens upped its FY98 and FY99 estimates to $1.73 and $2.13 from $1.68 and $2.01... Adams Harkness also raised its FY98 estimate, bumping CSCO's number to $1.71 from $1.67... Stock poised for test of the low-70s... CSCO's coattails getting a little longer, as evidenced by the strong gains recorded throughout the industry: 3Com (+15/16), FORE Systems (+1 3/16), Bay (+1 1/8) and Cabletron Systems (+1 1/16)... In light of last year's poor performance (Cisco excepted) plenty of room for recovery gains in the weeks and months to come. Computer Software & Services Brief: A relatively quiet session for the group, with the big news being that Bill Gates had a cream pie thrown in his face... Neither Larry Ellison nor Scott McNealy were on the scene... PeopleSoft was the group's big winner, jumping 1 7/8 to a new all-time high after beating its earnings estimate by 2 cents on a sharp jump in revenues... Briefing maintains its 47-48 target... As noted above, Netscape climbed over one point on speculation that SUNW might acquire company... Seems unlikely, however, given SUNW's acquisition history... Parametric (+1 1/4) nearing key resistance at 54 7/8... Penetration of this ceiling would leave stock poised for a near- to intermediate-term test of the 64 area. Semiconductor: Brief: Chip sector succumbed to some light profit-taking in Wednesday's session... Big exception was Intel... Stock regaining its swagger after months of underperforming... Still shy of key resistance (gap) at 90 1/8... But given recent momentum and bullish outlook for PC sector going forward, look for stock to pierce this ceiling on its way back to the 100+ area... For more on the group, see Briefing's upgrade of the sector on our Sector Ratings page. Semiconductor Equipment Brief: Up again, down again industry is up again - way up... As Asian fears subside, value investors intrigued by group's low PEGs and relative P/Es have bid the stocks sharply higher... Momentum investors also beginning to jump back in to badly beaten industry... Table below shows how far these stocks have jumped off their recently established lows. StockPercent ChangeStockPercent ChangeTeradyne (TER)67%Applied Mat. (AMAT)45%SpeedFam (SFAM)59%ETEC Syst. (ETEC)37%Asyst Tech (ASYT)49%Cymer (CYMI)36%Kulicke & Soffa (KLIC)49%KLA-Tencor (KLAC)29%Novellus (NVLS)46%Lam Research (LRCX)21% These gains are amazing considering the earnings risk associated with Asia... Nevertheless, incredible momentum to carry stocks still higher over the next few weeks. Telecommunications Equipment Brief: Another group which has been on a roll in recent weeks... Lucent (+2 1/4) remains the best play, though PairGain (+1), Andrew (+9/16) and Qualcomm (+1 1/16) showing much improved momentum... Lucent introduced breakthrough call center software that improves customer care, increases sales and reduces costs... Telecommunications de Guatemala selected Nortel to expand its network in a $72 mln project to add up to 150000 CDMA digital wireless PCS lines... NT nearing upper end of 3-month trading range... Look for near-term test of 49 3/4, with penetration resulting in move to the 57 area. [ Index ] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This page was downloaded by your browser Wednesday, February 04, 1998 20:35:51 ET and is the latest version available as of that time. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Copyright c 1998 Charter Media, Inc. All rights reserved.