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Technology Stocks : Premiere Technologies (PTEK) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jack Be Quick who wrote (374)	6/3/1998 11:15:00 AM
From: Claude Edelson	Respond to of 1270

Any thoughts on attached? But technology stocks took a beating. Among them was Premiere Technologies (ticker symbol PTEK), which slipped $1, or 4.2 percent, to $22.87 1/2. Most analysts continue to recommend the stock, including Prudential Securities analyst Michael Turits, who thinks it could reach $54 over the next 12 months. One reason is spectacular revenue and earnings growth for the provider of integrated communications services to individuals and businesses. Turits predicts per-share earnings could grow at a compound annual rate of 38 percent over five years, while revenue should expand at a 42 percent annual rate, aided by acquisitions to deepen existing product offerings or expand distribution channels. The stock currently trades at 18 times Wall Street's 1998 earnings estimate of $1.27 a share, a big discount to its forecasted growth rate. Despite the chorus of "buy" recommendations, one analyst --- Vik Grover of Kaufman Brothers --- is recommending long-term investors sell the shares, which traded as high as $35.43 3/4 on March 25. Even though Grover thinks Premiere Technologies will meet or exceed Wall Street's earnings expectations over the next two or three quarters --- largely because of cost-cutting and cost-efficiencies realized from recent acquisitions --- he thinks the stock could tumble to $20 or below. "The company has achieved an optimistic valuation that fails to discount numerous market, industry, technological and business-specific risks," Grover said in a research report last month. Grover thinks Premiere Technologies faces "substantial pricing and margin compression as unified messaging and business fax services become commoditized during the coming years." He figures the company needs to continue to grow through acquisitions. The company's debt has increased, and it has issued a lot of shares to make five acquisitions in the past 12 months. Turits cites much of the same risks in his report, but believes the company can overcome its hurdles. Only time will tell.

To: Jack Be Quick who wrote (374)	6/3/1998 12:00:00 PM
From: Claude Edelson	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1270

Maybe Ptek is involved with Sprint cje_98 Jun 3 1998 11:25AM EDT Take yesterday's story of Ptek and Sirc and last week's story Ptek involved with Sprint? STAMFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 26, 1998--Sirco International Corp. (NASDAQ:SIRC - news) announced today that it's affiliated company, Access One Communications (formerly CLEC Holding Corp.), an integrated telecommunications provider in which Sirco has a 30.2% interest, signed a multi-year agreement with Sprint (NYSE:FON - news) for interconnection services to customers of Sprint throughout Florida. Access One provides alternative telephone services to customers of BellSouth and Sprint throughout Florida, with applications pending to expand throughout BellSouth's nine-state region.