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Technology Stocks : Lucent Technologies (LU) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Rob L. who wrote (3117)	7/20/1998 2:23:00 PM
From: Boplicity	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 21876

Lucent Shares Rise Amid Optimism Earnings Will Beat Estimates Murray Hill, New Jersey, July 20 (Bloomberg) -- Lucent Technologies Inc. shares rose as much as 6.6 percent amid expectations the top North American phone-equipment maker's fiscal third-quarter earnings will beat estimates. Lucent rose 5 3/4 to 100 5/8 in early afternoon trading, after touching a split-adjusted record of 101 1/8. The stock has risen about 17 percent in the past week and more than doubled so far this year, driving the company's market capitalization to $132 billion. Lucent, like other phone-equipment makers, is seeing sales soar as phone companies struggle to keep up with mushrooming data traffic. The Murray Hill, New Jersey-based company has beaten estimates every quarter since it was spun off from AT&T Corp. in September 1996, and that strong performance has made investors willing to pay more for the stock. ''It's starting to look like another Microsoft (Corp.),'' said Robert Wilkes, an analyst at Brown Brothers Harriman. Lucent is expected to earn 27 cents a diluted share for the quarter, according to analysts surveyed by First Call Corp. The company plans to report results Wednesday. ''We're expecting them to beat the numbers handily,'' said Joseph Noel, an analyst at Hambrecht & Quist, who has a ''strong buy'' rating on Lucent. ''This is the preferred stock of the telecom group.'' Other equipment makers' stocks are rising as well. Lucent rival Cisco Systems Inc.'s shares have risen 11 percent in the past week amid optimism the No. 1 computer- networking company will remain among the best-performing stocks in the technology sector. Last week, Tellabs Inc., which also makes equipment for phone networks, reported second-quarter earnings surged 47 percent, sending its shares up 8 percent. ''The market is paying more and more for high-quality names in this industry,'' said Nikos Theodosopoulos, an analyst at Warburg Dillon Read LLC, who has a ''buy'' rating on Lucent. Split-adjusted, Lucent shares have risen more than sevenfold since the company's initial public offering at $13.50 a share in April 1996.