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

To: djane who wrote (51248)	8/2/1998 11:39:00 PM
From: esterina	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 61433

Date: Sun, 2 Aug 1998 20:30:23 -0700 (PDT) From: "Quote.Com Staff" <staff@quote.com> To: quotecom-users@news.quote.com Reply-To: staff@quote.com Subject: Ascend set to announce Stratus acquisition ============================================================ Burning up the performance charts, Hot Stock Digest can help YOU select sizzling small-caps for your portfolio! vital-info.com ============================================================ News Alert from Reuters via Quote.com Topic: (NASDAQ:ASND) Ascend Communications Inc, (NYSE:SRA) Stratus Computer, (NYSE:LU) Lucent Technologies Inc, (NASDAQ:SUMA) Summa Four, (NASDAQ:CSCO) Cisco Sys Inc, (TSE:NTL) Northern Telecom Ltd., (NYSE:BAY) Bay Networks Inc, Quote.com News Item #7250116 Headline: Ascend set to announce Stratus acquisition ====================================================================== By Robin Sidel NEW YORK, Aug 2 (Reuters) - Internet equipment supplier Ascend Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:ASND) is expected to announce plans early on Monday to buy Stratus Computer Inc. (NYSE:SRA) for less than $1 billion in stock, according to sources familiar with the transaction. Board of both companies met Sunday, but final details were still being hammered out late Sunday night, said the sources who did not want to be identified. Financial terms of the transaction could not be determined late Sunday. The sources said the deal calls for Marlboro, Mass.-based Stratus to be split into four parts, with Ascend retaining the key portion of the business that makes computers used to run telephone switching systems. Other Stratus operations, which are used in securities trading and electronic commerce, would likely be sold by Ascend as part of the transaction. The San Jose Mercury News was first to report news of the transaction on Friday. Sources later confirmed the talks to Reuters. Shares of Alameda, Calif.-based Ascend tumbled sharply on Friday on concerns that the Stratus deal could jeopardize a potential purchase of Ascend by telephone equipment giant Lucent Technologies Inc. (NYSE:LU) . Rumors of an Ascend-Lucent transaction have circulated for months and industry experts have speculated that a deal could be coming this fall. Ascend shares closed Friday at $44.875 on Nasdaq, down $7.06. Stratus stock gained 44 cents to $28.75 on the New York Stock Exchange. The deal will mark the latest in a wave of transactions in the telecommunications equipment sector. Companies are racing to outfit the world's telecommunications networks so they can transmit both phone calls and data communications over the Internet. Analysts said Friday a transaction between Ascend and Stratus would be a strategic coup for Ascend. Furthermore, Stratus' share price has fallen sharply in recent months due to weak sales, a development that makes the acquisition a better bargain for Ascend. Other similar transactions include the planned acquisition of Summa Four Inc. (NASDAQ:SUMA) by Ascend competitor Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO). In June, Canada's Northern Telecom Ltd (TSE:NTL) agreed to buy Bay Networks Inc. (NYSE:BAY) Copyright 1998, Reuters News Service

To: djane who wrote (51248)	8/3/1998 1:41:00 AM
From: djane	Respond to of 61433

8/98 Money magazine on takeover rumors (p.36) [LU/ASND reference] (re-keyboarded from hard copy - how quaint...) Off the Boards High-tech is in the midst of a merger boom, and Internet bulletin boards are buzzing about deals. Here's the lowdown on two targets - one likely, one not. The company that will probably keep its independence is Symantec... [portion omitted about possible IBM purchase] The more likely takeover target is Ascend Communications ($49), a maker of data networking systems. Supposed acquirers: Ericsson, Lucent, 3Com, Cisco and Tellabs. The best bet is Lucent, the leading U.S. maker of telephone switching equipment, says analyst David Powers, at Edward Jones. But one astute cyberinvestor, Brandybuck [where do they get these guys?], figures Lucent may wait before pouncing. Brandybuck correctly notes that accounting restrictions resulting from AT&T's 1996 spin-off of Lucent prevent the equipment company from using the favorable "pooling of interest approach" to a merger until Oct. 1." For more on Ascend and Lucent, see Money Pro, page 38. -- Pablo Galarza and Jim Frederick

To: djane who wrote (51248)	8/3/1998 1:53:00 AM
From: djane	Respond to of 61433

8/98 Money magazine article on Friess (Brandywine), pp.38-40 [Nice ASND reference] [I believe Brandywine started buying ASND in high $30s in Q198] Wall Street: Money Pro Stormy Weather at Brandywine [Portions relevant to ASND] [78.2% cash position in 1/98] By March, however, he was already plunging into the market again, and by May, he had reinvested nearly all of the fund's assets in stocks. Money senior editor Walter Updegrave spoke to Friess about why he exited stocks so quickly late last year, what broght him back to the market and what he's been buying lately. Q. What changed that allowed you to load up on stocks again? A. First, as several months went by we were able to get a clearer look at '99 earnings estimates. So we were able to judge companies based on their P/E ratios based on '99 earnings, which brought many of their multiples down to the range we find acceptable. Q. So what have you been buying with that big pile of cash you had? A. We're nimble traders, so by the time people read this, we could already been out of some of the stocks I mention [well, I've got a Friday sell-off which may have your name on it...] Basically we look at companies that are growing rapidly, have reasonable P/Es and will have better earnings than people expect. In the telecommunications area, we've bought Ascend Communications (ASND; trading at $49.50 as of June 30) and Fore Systems (Fore; $26.50). Both are benefitting from the growing use of packet-switching technology that allows large amounts of information to be sent across computer networks. We got into these companies because we heard great things from their customers. We got reports that Ascend was winning business from Cisco Systems.[I love this sentence...] We also picked Lucent Technologies (LU; $83; 0.2% yield), although at a recent P/E of 29 times '99 earnings we've had to stretch our usual parameters. Domestic revenue growth has been accelerating, plus it's only getting 10% to 15% of its revenue outside the U.S. So we see massive opportunity for gaining market share in the rest of the world.