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Strategies & Market Trends : Technical analysis for shorts & longs -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Clint E. who wrote (15954)	5/13/1998 11:12:00 AM
From: Johnny Canuck	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 68199

Motorola Inc. (MOT) 58 3/16 +2 5/16: shares of semiconductor and cell phone equipment maker trades higher on rumors that Germany's Seimens may has an interest in making a bid for MOT... Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT) 37 7/8 -1/16: --UPDATE-- Adams Harkness lowers earnings estimates on semiconductor wafer fabrication equipment maker as conditions in Japan continue to deteriorate; latest results were in line, but Q3 guidance is for orders of $850 to $1 bln, revenues of $925-$975 mln and EPS of $0.20 to $0.23 a share; management expects orders to bottom some time between Q1 and Q3 of FY99, as DRAM producers begin new fab construction; management does not expects an upturn in semi capital expenditures until second half of calendar 1999; continues to rate issue "market perform" while lowering FY98 from $1.46 to $1.33 and FY99 from $1.46 to $1.10 a share..... Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT) 37 1/2 -7/16: --UPDATE-- BA Robertson Stephens downgrades semiconductor wafer fabrication equipment maker from "strong buy" to "buy" following the release of its Q2 results which matched Wall Street expectations..... Bay Networks (BAY) 24: Newswire reports that the networking company rejected a takeover offer from Northern Telecom (NT), but that BAY might be willing to accept a higher offer... BAY NETWORKS INC. (BAY) 24 CLOSED. Computer networking concern is expected to be actively traded today as the company recently turned down an acquisition offer from Northern Telecom (NY 64 13/16). According to a Bloomberg news story, BAY told analysts that it had rejected a takeover offer from Northern Telecom because the bid was too low. The company went on to say that it would consider a higher bid. Hence, the implication is that the company has put itself in play and that it is up for sale, for the right price. Already on Instinet, shares of BAY has moved up to the $27 range as the stock has been recently stuck in the mid-$20s range for the past couple of months. To be sure, with Cisco Systems setting the pace for the networking market and winning market share at the expenses of its competitors, BAY has been on the short-end of the stick, especially after it reported disappointing fiscal Q3 results. In fact, after making great strides in 1997 of getting its operations in shape through better execution and the introduction of new products that allowed the stock to trade as high as $42 a share, the stock hit a brick wall with the collapse of Asia. In its latest financial report, BAY recorded weakness across all product categories and regions, with revenues falling more than 15% on a sequential basis. And with the landscape remaining very difficult over the intermediate term, a buyout at this time may be a welcome situation for investors, although the price that BAY is likely to fetch will probably be in the low $30s. The announcement that BAY has received a bid will most likely attract attention to the networking sector today as the area where consolidation will next take place. MICROSOFT CORP. (MSFT) 85 11/16 CLOSED. Look out Microsoft detractors. Shares of software company caught a break last night when a three judge Appeals court ruled in its favor regarding a stay of the preliminary injunction issued by a Federal District Court Judge last December. In the December 11 injunction, judge Thomas Penfield Jackson ruled that Microsoft had violated the 1995 consent decree that was designed to further competition in the operating systems arena with regards to Windows 95. According to judge Jackson, he ruled that the injunction applied to any successor operating system as well. However, the Appeals court reversed this interpretation and said that the prior government suit did not apply to Windows 98. This clears the way for the shipment of Windows 98 which is scheduled for this Friday. Prior to this ruling, the shipment of Windows 98 was questionable. The latest ruling does not affect the core government case against Microsoft which claims that MSFT had violated the consent decree by bundling the browser with its operating system. It also does not affect separate actions being pursued by the government and more than 13 states, but it does allow Microsoft to start shipping its Windows 98 operating system. This is a small victory for MSFT, but a welcome one, given the negative press the company has received regarding its market share dominance and its intent on squashing competition. This is also a positive for box makers and companies that depend on the new operating system being released on time. While consumers will not have a chance to buy Windows 98 until June 25, the clearing of this first legal hurdle should help MSFT stock this morning. Nonetheless, a slew of other suits are expected to be filed soon, which will again turn the market focus to legal issues, but so far, indications are that Microsoft continues to churn out the profits, despite the legal side shows.