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Strategies & Market Trends : WILL COCA-COLA ALWAYS GO UP? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: BAXTERBOO who wrote (896)	3/16/1998 8:55:00 PM
From: Dulane U. Ponder	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1462

James, might I suggest (as I have already to Jerome) that Uncle Warren might be better off with the Butterball Crispy Chicken Breasts (frozen) -- only 8 grams of you know what -- with a quart of coke. I once visited the Golden Arches last year but, as I had numerous coupons saved over several seasons, I was able to have an advantageous exchange at the cash register. dulane PS -- I wonder if Uncle Warren is imbibing that nutritious syrup (cum paint remover) in a silver goblet?

To: BAXTERBOO who wrote (896)	3/19/1998 8:58:00 AM
From: Jerry Miller	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1462

...shame about what Warren did to MCD. but that special sauce never really made me feel very special anyway. time will tell, i guess. LU is an excellent move. i'm waking up to it myself. they're located here in Denver...did some remodeling for one of their technicians two years ago. here's a nice piece. Wednesday March 18, 2:44 pm Eastern Time TALKING POINT-Lucent emerges as a top-tier stock By Eric Auchard NEW YORK, March 18 (Reuters) - In the rarefied universe of blue-chip technology stocks, add another name to the list of such perennial investor favorites as Microsoft Corp. (MSFT - news) and Intel Corp. (INTC - news). What Microsoft is to software and Intel is to computer chips, Lucent Technologies Inc.(LU - news) has become to communications networks -- both for phone equipment, where it the world's market leader, and, increasingly, for the Internet. The stock has surged 60 percent in the past two months to record highs amid a growing belief on Wall Street that the old AT&T phone equipment arm is making all the right moves to gear for a new stage of growth in data networks. ''There is anticipation that the company is becoming an aggressive player in new fields like data networking even as it continues to do all the right things in telecom equipment,'' said Frank Dzubeck, an industry consultant with Communications Network Architects. Adding to near-term demand for the stock is a sense that strong quarterly results are in store, creating a pile-on effect as mutual fund managers load up on the shares before a 2-for-1 stock split that takes effect on April 1. ''Money managers are tripping over themselves to own the stock before the end of the quarter, because it has been such a strong performer,'' said Scott Bleier, chief investment strategist at New York brokerage Prime Charter Ltd. The share price has added 25 points in the last month and quadrupled in the two years since Lucent split-off from AT&T Corp. (T - news). It was trading at about $119 on Wednesday. For Lucent, analysts see a new stage of growth beginning soon. Perhaps as early as summer -- just ahead of the lifting of accounting restraints that have limited big merger moves since its split from AT&T -- the company could shoulder a major acquisition to thrust it to the top of the data network race. In recent months, Lucent has made bolder moves to muscle into the data communications business -- a new area for it that is now dominated by Internet equipment suppliers such as Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO - news) and 3Com Corp. (COMS - news). In another step to prepare for the future, Lucent elevated Richard McGinn to chief executive in the fall and chairman in February, succeeding Henry Schacht, who had led the company through its split from AT&T. Meanwhile, analysts see the company continuing to perform well across the range of its existing businesses -- telecommunications network equipment, both wired and wireless, semiconductors and corporate office communications equipment. ''What Lucent is doing is benefiting enormously from its potential as a restructuring play,'' Lehman analyst Tim Luke said, referring from its move to trim costs and boost gross margins since being freed of status as AT&T's equipment arm. ''At the same time, there is a big cycle of investment going on from a lot of the carriers,'' said the Lehman analyst, referring to purchases by major telecom service providers. Lucent spokesman Scott Horn confirmed that in October Lucent will become free to fund acquisitions using its stock as a currency. However, he declined to speculate on the company's future acquisition plans. ''Lucent is a sleeping giant,'' Dzubeck said. ''Everyone anticipates them making some significant announcements in the June time frame,'' he said, referring to speculation that it might be preparing for a mega-merger. ''But they aren't going to make an $8 billion or $10 billion acquisition without the favorable accounting status,'' he said. Stock-for-stock mergers are often the preferred method for funding acquisitions because they allow a company to soften the blow of having to account for the costs of the acquisition in ways that drag down near-term earnings results. ..KO KO. so we stay on topic.