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Biotech / Medical : Pharma News Only (pfe,mrk,wla, sgp, ahp, bmy, lly) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: chirodoc who wrote (1116)	11/23/1998 2:09:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1722

Pfizer Inc. Reiterated 'Strong Buy' at SG Cowen Bloomberg News November 23, 1998, 12:33 p.m. ET Princeton, New Jersey, Nov. 23 (Bloomberg Data) -- Pfizer Inc. (PFE US) was reiterated ''strong buy'' by analyst Stephen Scala at SG Cowen. -- Andrew Bekoff in Princeton, New Jersey, (609)279-3652 More News: PFE

To: chirodoc who wrote (1116)	11/23/1998 2:52:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1722

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Standard & Poor's Monday affirmed its ratings on Monsanto Co. and its unit. These ratings were removed from CreditWatch, where they were placed May 12. The outlook is negative. At the same time, S&P assigned its single-Ar-minus rating to Monsanto's proposed issuance of $500 million of adjustable conversion-rate equity securities (ACES), which consist of junior subordinated deferrable debentures due November 2003 and a purchase contract under which the holder will purchase Monsanto common stock in November 2001. S&P said the affirmation incorporates expectations that recently announced initiatives - including plans to divest non-core businesses and to issue common equity and equity-linked securities - will lead to meaningful debt reduction in the near term and bolster the financial profile that has been stretched by a series of mostly debt-financed acquisitions "Ratings recognize Monsanto Co.'s strengthened positions in pharmaceuticals and agricultural chemicals, including its leadership in the emerging plant biotechnology sector, as well as prudent financial policies that reflect a near-term focus on debt reduction. The company spun off its industrial chemicals operations in late 1997 and now is focused on higher growth, more stable agricultural, pharmaceutical and food ingredients markets. "Many product lines enjoy above-average profitability and solid cash flow generation. In particular, the blockbuster Roundup herbicide product lines benefit from very strong and entrenched market positions. The company faces the potential of heightened generic competition when key Roundup patents expire in year 2000, but the company's sound strategy to address competitive challenges through pricing adjustments and cost reductions should mute potential adverse effects. "Weaker than anticipated success in the commercialization of new products or additional debt-financed acquisitions would forestall the strengthening of the financial profile that is expected over the next two years and would lead to a ratings downgrade," S&P said. OUTSTANDING RATINGS AFFIRMED AND REMOVED FROM CREDITWATCH Rating Monsanto Co. Corporate credit rating A Short-term corporate credit rating A-1 Senior unsecured debt A Medium-term notes A Commercial paper A-1 Monsanto Defined Contribution & Employee Stk Ownership Trust Senior unsecured* A *Guaranteed by Monsanto Co. (END) DOW JONES NEWS 11-23-98 01:11 PM

To: chirodoc who wrote (1116)	11/23/1998 4:13:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1722

Looking for top-line sales growth Janus Fund manager finds plenty to like in big-caps By Don Scott, CBS MarketWatch Last Update: 4:06 PM ET Nov 23, 1998 NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- Janus Twenty Fund portfolio manager Scott Schoelzel pays keen attention to a company's top-line sales growth. "You love to get it through unit sales, because there are not many companies out there that can actually increase prices any more," Schoelzel said. "So I'm looking for growing top lines, expanding margins and real, open-ended opportunities, not just companies that can satisfy a small niche for a short period of time, but companies that are going to eventually become, or are, the brand name franchises in their respective industries." His stock picking strategy is "very simple and very straight forward." He looks for companies in only a handful of sectors that include: telecommunications (equipment and services), technology, health (pharmaceuticals, biotech and healthcare), financial services, retailing and entertainment. Twenty Fund's performance Schoelzel took over the Twenty Fund (JAVLX) in August 1997 and since then, the fund has grown at an annualized rate of 34.4 percent, versus the S&P 500's annualized 17.4 percent over the same period. The numbers are computed by Morningstar's Principia Pro database through the end of October. Year-to-date, Twenty is up 47.9 percent, the market's up a comparatively stingy 19.9 percent. The $12 billion fund is one of the no-load offerings the Janus Group of Funds (www.janus.com). Schoelzel also turned in top-draw performances running the Founders Special Fund and the Founder's Growth fund before Janus. He's 40 and is using the Twenty Fund to invest for his own retirement and to pay for his three children's college education. He says his entire liquid net worth invested in the fund. That clearly puts him on the same side of the table as shareholders. Dell, Nokia sales Schoelzel says unit sales are up 70 percent, year over year, at Dell and up about 15 percent sequentially. He notes that sales this past quarter were up 51 percent over the prior year. And sales were up 11 percent from the second to the third quarter. Another company Schoelzel likes is Nokia, Finland's cellular phone company. He says American consumers are ringing up the new AT&T 11-cents-a-minute cellular deal so quickly that Nokia, which supplies the handsets, can't make the phones fast enough. "They're producing a million a week and there's a waiting list." Also encouraging: in the U.S., the cellular phone penetration rate is just 20 percent. How big could it get? In Europe, the penetration rate is 50 percent. Sure, the field is crowded, Schoelzel admits, but "it's pretty clear to me that Nokia seems to be a step ahead of its competitors, not only providing the feature sets that customers and consumers want, but adding new features that are opening up entire new markets." Intuit Is there a particular stock that sticks out in Schoelzel's mind as being an undiscovered gem that's going to pop once the rest of the world figures it out? He says he's begun building a position in Intuit (INTU), which he acknowledges is not a cheap stock, no matter how you slice it. It's been trading mostly between 45 and 55, though lately it's moved higher. "Everybody talks about Amazon.com and how big the book market is, and all the other little markets when people are trying to imagine what can be done on the web," he notes, "but consumer financial services is a $1 trillion market--that's the mother lode." Schoelzel says if Intuit, through its Quicken software, insurance and mortgage offerings, and other relationships, can become the Amazon.com of financial services on the Web, then "this stock could be gargantuan and it has by no means had one of these Amazon.com or Yahoo! type of moves." cbs.marketwatch.com