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

To: Wolverine who wrote (47784)	5/30/1998 9:19:00 AM
From: Narotham Reddy	Respond to of 61433

Barrons: Brandywine Manager picks ASND June 1, 1998 Friess' Frisson Brandywine manager, left out in cold, may be again, only now he's buying By Barry Henderson Talk about lousy timing. After missing out on the big move in stocks early this year, Foster Friess has decided to redeploy his cash just as some cracks are beginning to appear in the market. In December, Friess put 78% of his Brandywine fund in cash as he became nervous that Wall Street was underestimating the fallout from Asia. After several months of poor performance and irate investors, Friess appears to have grown tired of this strategy. In a May 18 letter to shareholders, he declares that cash now makes up less than 8% of the fund. So why the new optimism? In his letter, he writes, "Your research team, now with the benefit of factoring in 1999 estimates, identified companies that meet our stringent investment criteria." He won't elaborate on why 1999 estimates are so much more compelling than first-quarter 1998 estimates that had him so spooked. So, where's he putting his money? Names like Ascend Communications, FORE Systems, Avant! along with retailers like Ames Department Stores and Jones Apparel. Another recent purchase is Atlantic Southeast Air, a regional airline that is a subsidiary of ASA Holdings. It's switching from jet-prop commuter planes to a fleet of small jets, which will boost the airline's capacity and load factor (the percentage of seats on its planes that are filled). With revenues of $385 million and a market cap of $1.2 billion, the stock is currently trading at $39.75, or 17 times 1998 earnings of $2.33. The Brandywine team thinks the new capacity is getting short shrift from analysts and that the airline will earn $2.85 in 1999, compared with Wall Street's consensus estimate of $2.75.