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

To: steve poon who wrote (54543)	9/21/1998 11:52:00 PM
From: Yamakita	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 61433

I sure hope djane hasn't been burned on his asnd short, after so much DD and general bullishness!!

To: steve poon who wrote (54543)	9/22/1998 7:55:00 AM
From: Lee Ring	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 61433

Thanks for the post Steve. This could be a significant prize as the Asia rebuilds over the next decade. Lee

To: steve poon who wrote (54543)	9/22/1998 9:51:00 PM
From: steve poon	Respond to of 61433

asnd mention as possible buyer but who the hell knows. possibly doing this at lu bidding? now that would be funny (UPDATE) Investors Return To Telecom Supplier Ciena Amid New Takeover Rumors Dow Jones Online News, Tuesday, September 22, 1998 at 18:55 NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Shares of telecommunications-equipment maker Ciena Corp., which recently have been battered by a failed merger with Tellabs Inc. and the denial of two key contracts, bounced back 42% Tuesday on news of a new contract in Japan and renewed speculation that the company could be takeover bait. Dan McCurdy, vice president for marketing and strategic transactions at Linthicum, Md.-based Ciena, said the company is "absolutely not" in merger talks right now. "We're just not seeking a merger," he said. "We're focused on the business of our business." Nasdaq-listed shares of Ciena (CIEN) rose $4.563 to close at $15.563 on volume of 28.6 million, compared with average daily turnover of 5.4 million. Tellabs (TLAB) in June agreed to buy Ciena in a stock deal worth about $6.9 billion at the time. The deal was scaled back to about $3.7 billion after Ciena warned its third-quarter revenue wouldn't meet analysts' estimates, and AT&T Corp. said it wasn't going to grant Ciena a hoped-for contract with a potential value of $100 million. The Tellabs deal was finally scrapped last week, days after after Italian rival Pirelli SpA beat out Ciena for another big contract, this one with privately held Digital Teleport Inc. Ciena supplies phone companies with so-called multiplexers, equipment that boosts the capacity of fiber-optic networks. The company's customers include Sprint Corp., MCI Worldcom Inc., Bell Atlantic Corp. and Cable & Wireless PLC. Ciena's stock has swooned from a 52-week high of $92.375 on July 21 to a 52-week low of $10.75 on Monday. But investors brightened on news Tuesday that Ciena had won a contract from Japan Telecom Co., even though terms of the deal weren't disclosed. "I think it's a very valuable company," said Tom Randall, manager of Tribco partners, a private hedge fund in Laguna Beach, Calif., that owns Ciena stock. The stock also got a lift, investors said, from speculation that Ciena could look like a real bargain to potential buyers, including data-networking giant Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO). Many analysts feel Ciena won't be able to survive as a stand-alone company with essentially one main product, especially as competition pressures prices for telecom gear. Some observers say Ciena's multiplexers would be a nice complement to Cisco's routers, which direct data traffic on computer networks and telephone lines. Ciena and Cisco already have worked together to ensure that their products are compatible. Merger speculation has run rampant through the telecom-equipment sector in the wake of Alcatel-Alsthom SA's purchase of DSC Communications Corp. and the since-scuttled Ciena-Tellabs deal Major Ciena competitor Lucent Technologies Inc. will be freed Oct. 1 from restrictive accounting rules and reportedly is evaluating about a half-dozen potential takeover targets. Ciena has accused Lucent (LU) of helping to kill the Tellabs deal by making damaging claims about Ciena's products. One potential target for Lucent is Ascend Communications Inc. (ASND), but some analysts have speculated that Acend may be interested in launching a bid for Ciena. In that case, observers say Lucent could put Newbridge Networks Corp. in its sights. Copyright (c) 1998 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Companies or Securities discussed in this article: SymbolNameNASDAQ:ASNDAscend Communications IncNASDAQ:CIENNASDAQ:CSCOCisco Sys IncNYSE:LULucent Technologies IncNASDAQ:TLABTellabs IncTOKYO:9434Japan Telecom Company Ltd.