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Microcap & Penny Stocks : Tokyo Joe's Cafe / Anything goes -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: BILL G. who wrote (21324)	5/26/1998 9:13:00 AM
From: Leman	Respond to of 34592

HRSH in BW inside wall street colum STITCHING HIRSCH TOGETHER AGAIN Feb. 20, 1998, is a day Hirsch International (HRSH) stockholders will find hard to forget: Shares fell from 21 5/8 to 11 1/4--a 48% drop. This distributor of computerized embroidery machinery had warned that fiscal-fourth-quarter earnings would come in below expectations. The stock, highlighted in this column at 18 in May last year, rose to 26 in August, 1997. Since the February collapse, however, it has slipped below 9, though it now trades at 10 1/4. Any hope for a snapback? ''Most certainly,'' says veteran stockpicker Allan Roness of JW Charles Securities: ''I see the stock almost doubling from here,'' he says. That's because he believes the shortfall in sales and earnings was a temporary blip, caused partly by the loss of an order from an apparel manufacturer that moved to Mexico. And running costs jumped because of a ramp-up of its sales force--in anticipation of increased demand for its smaller machines. Roness expects that last year's slack sales will be offset this year by a surge in demand for its smaller machines--the fastest-growing segment of the business. Made by Tajima Industries and Brother Industries, these devices sew logos and emblems on caps, shirts, and pants. Hirsch's customers include Fruit of the Loom and OshKosh B'Gosh. The stock, which he says is headed toward 16 in a year, is one of the cheapest around--provided that earnings recover by fiscal 1999. In the year ending Jan. 31, 2000, Roness expects Hirsch to exceed analysts' earnings estimates of $1.10 a share: He foresees $1.50 instead. And in fiscal 1999, he figures it will make 95 cents a share, compared with 89 cents in 1998 and $1.10 in 1997. BY GENE G. MARCIAL