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Technology Stocks : Ascend Communications (ASND) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Glenn D. Rudolph who wrote (42963)	4/8/1998 8:08:00 PM
From: Jan Crawley	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 61433

Glenn, I wrote some May 40 covered calls for $2 1/4. If Asnd reaches $42 1/2 sometime tomorrow, Would my shares be called away at that "moment" or I have to call and find out? Thanks, Jan

To: Glenn D. Rudolph who wrote (42963)	4/8/1998 8:08:00 PM
From: djane	Respond to of 61433

Brandywine ASND purchase due to new product cycles thestreet.com Fund Watch Features: Brandywine Maintains It's Skeptical on Tech, Despite Its Latest Bet By Avi Stieglitz Staff Reporter 4/8/98 6:34 PM ET Though the Brandywine Fund has jumped back into tech, Foster Friess & Co. remain concerned about the impact of Asia on U.S. corporate profitability, particularly in the volatile sector, a manager says. The concern doesn't show in the top 10 holdings. As TSC reported yesterday, seven of the fund's top-10 holdings on its March 31 list are tech stocks, and the fund now has a 24% position in the sector as a whole. But Brandywine managers are not ready to be seen as champions of the group just yet. "I wouldn't use the blanket statement that we're bullish on tech," says William D'Alonzo, a senior portfolio manager at Brandywine. The 24% weighting in the flagship is "still less than half of what our typical tech position is." Late last year, Brandywine dumped most of its tech positions and shifted more than 70% of the portfolio's assets into cash as a defensive play against Asian economic weakness. They bulked up on retailers and other companies that would benefit from cheaper imports. In an interview Wedneday, D'Alonzo said that the new positions are "bottoms-up ideas." Networking stocks like Bay Network (BAY:NYSE), 3Com (COMS:Nasdaq) and Ascend Communications (ASND:Nasdaq) were purchased last quarter because of new product cycles in the industry. Says D'Alonzo: "Sales trends outside of Asia are [going to be] able to overcome the problems in Asia." Perhaps, but that possibility is what the managers missed before. Moreover, while many tech companies did miss earnings estimates or issue warnings, the market didn't get too put off. Says D'Alonzo, "We misjudged or didn't appreciate the money flows into the markets." Outside of the networkers and two other subsectors -- software and computer services -- the Brandywine team sees more warnings and disappointments a la Intel (INTC:Nasdaq) and Compaq (CPQ:NYSE) in the months ahead. "We think there are more shoes to drop," D'Alonzo says. "There are a number of people pouring money into the market who are expecting 20-30% gains every year ... and they are in for a rude awakening," D'Alonzo says. In the meantime, however, there are a lot of Brandywine shareholders who were expecting market-like returns or better from their funds this quarter but were treated to severe underperformance because of the controversial shift to cash last year. Brandywine Fund is up 2% year-to-date through Tuesday vs. a 14.8% gain for Vanguard's S&P 500 index fund. Many shareholders have already showed their disapproval by pulling their money from the fund. Net outflows for the now-$7.7 billion fund were $900 million in the first quarter, according to D'Alonzo.