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Technology Stocks : CheckFree (CKFR) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TLindt who wrote (2422)	3/10/1998 2:10:00 PM
From: Benny Baga	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 8545

From DrDave on Yahoo: Subject: Jim Jubak's Stock Picks Category: General Perodical: Microsoft Investor Web Site Jubak's Picks For me, the process of finding profitable stocks is almost as rewarding as the results. So in my column, I first write about the strategies, trends and emotions of Wall Street. Then, in order to separate what actually works from what only seems like a great idea, I find individual stocks that embody the approach. And finally, I track these stocks to see how the ideas are playing out. (For a fuller description, see my column of Nov. 7.) Below you'll find a list of the stocks I'm currently following, along with a description of the thinking that originally led me to each company. Now and then I'll drop a stock to make room for a new idea or because I think it's time to sell. You'll find a list of recently dropped stocks at the end of this page. From the Microsoft Investor Web site investor.msn.com. New Developments on Past Columns: Hands on the Levers CheckFree Holdings (CKFR) has come down with a bad case of the Microsoft jitters. A Jubak's Pick on Jan. 30 at $23 7/8, the stock recently traded at $20 1/2 thanks to worries about pending competition from Microsoft. (Microsoft is the parent company of Investor, by the way.) Microsoft has told Wall Street analysts that its joint venture into home banking with First Data Corp. (FDC) is set to roll out in the late summer of 1998. That's certainly not a plus for CheckFree -- who would want more competition, especially from deep pockets like these? But it's not a very big negative either. While the joint venture, called MSFDC, will certainly try to recruit banks as customers, I think CheckFree already has won that battle. CheckFree has 300 banks signed on; MSFDC is beta testing its product at four. And banks are showing an understandable reluctance to let Microsoft anywhere near their customers, according to analysts following the industry. The real battle will come in the new market for electronically presenting bills from companies such as electric utilities and the Baby Bells directly to consumers through their home computers. This is a market in its infancy. CheckFree has signed up just 22 billers and MSFDC has 9, but potential is enormous. To win, according to a Feb. 26 Lehman Bros. analyst report, MSFDC is giving away NT-based servers and billing software to billers. CheckFree is countering with the only up-and-running clearinghouse that can handle massive volumes of both electronic and paper transactions. There will be a flood of press releases from MSFDC in coming months, and that's likely to keep the pressure on CheckFree's stock. Over the long run, though, CheckFree's progress in signing up consumers, banks, and bill payers is what will drive the stock upward.