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

To: Sriram S. Konkipudi who wrote (45771)	4/30/1998 9:19:00 AM
From: walterenergy	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 61433

from briefing.com 08:30 ET ****** ASCEND COMMUNICATIONS INC. (ASND) 42 9/16 CLOSED. Shares of high-speed digital remote networking products have made a remarkable comeback and the rebound could continue as investors are getting a bit more comfortable with the outlook for 1998. Since the beginning of the year, the stock is up 62%, but still trades 30% below the high reached last summer. The stock of course took a major fall late last year, reaching a low of $22 as increased competition from Cisco Systems and 3Com, coupled with problems in Asia, began to weigh on results. Much of the stock dip in the past months has been related to the weak operating conditions in Ascend's core products, particularly in the frame-relay sector. However, operations appear to be improving, especially in Asia, which is likely to help results of Ascend's core products. According to comments made at the Hambrecht & Quist conference, Ascend expects a rebound in its Asian sales during the second half of 1998. Such an improved outlook would be welcomed, although the company hinted that market conditions were improving when it released its Q1 results earlier this month. The latest comments basically reaffirm the views held by the company after it released its Q1 results and said it was comfortable with full-year earnings estimates of $1.15 a share on revenues of $1.4 billion. This compares with profits of $1.06 on revenues of $1.17 billion in 1997. While not too long ago, investors were clamoring for Ascend to make a deal and merge with a bigger player in order to stay competitive with its chief rivals, these fears have eased recently as the company appears to be making progress going at it alone. Not that Ascend will not look for a partner eventually, but for the moment, it seems to be coping well with the improving market conditions