To: djane who wrote (50815 ) 7/30/1998 11:11:00 PM From: djane Read Replies (1) | Respond to
BW Inside Wall St. very positive on Qwestbusinessweek.com @@KPsXsYQA0rAOKwAA/1998/32/b3590102.htmDalton says Qwest is well fixed to take advantage of changes in the industry, including growing demand for increased bandwidth capacity and Internet-related services. Qwest, which got a bad report in this column in late February, when it was trading at split-adjusted 36, has risen to 40 3/4 by July 28. Qwest is ''still little understood'' and deserves a higher valuation, says Dalton. He expects the stock will hit 60 in a year.Those deals ''highlight the value of Qwest, with its state-of-the-art, U.S. long-haul network, and strong back office systems,'' says Blake Bath of Lehman Brothers. Qwest is building an 18,440-mile fiber-optic network, scheduled for completion by mid-1999. Bath figures Qwest will post earnings of 33 cents a share in 1999, vs. an estimated loss of 11 cents in 1998.partly because it's the only company with a network in place for ''data Internet Protocol connectivity.'' And it is likely, he adds, that Qwest will also ''enter into a partnership with a European communications company over the next few weeks.'' Qwest spokesman Steven Jacobsen says the company is aggressively evaluating its options in Europe.
