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

To: Jack Colton who wrote (5528)	1/13/1999 2:13:00 PM
From: Sawtooth	Respond to of 21876

13:05 ET****** briefing.com 1/13 LUCENT TECHNOLOGIES INC. (LU) 104 15/16 -2 15/16. The much anticipated acquisition of Ascend Communications (ASND 79 15/16 +5) was announced earlier today. And while the final outcome seemed anti-climatic and already factored into the stock of Ascend, Lucent surprised everyone by offering a much richer premium than had been anticipated. Prior to this morning's announcement, most of Wall Street had assumed that Lucent would not pay more than $84-$85 a share given that a much higher price would have a dilutive impact on earnings. However, the offer of $20 billion (based on last night's closing price) or roughly $89 a share was about $4 billion more than had been projected, creating some buyer remorse for Lucent shareholders. At the current offering price, the deal is expected to be neutral to Lucent's 1999 earnings as the acquisition is not expected to be completed until the middle of this year, and accretive in 2000. Regardless, this deal was announced just when the Brazilian markets were unraveling, placing additional downward pressure on the stock. Lucent shares have rebounded from an intraday low of $96 and, given the strategic position and portfolio that Ascend provides Lucent with, it is only a matter of time before Lucent begins to trade again with its usual swagger. After all, the purchase of Ascend creates a much more formidable opponent for Cisco Systems (CSCO 99 -1/8) in the battle for Internet connectivity and backbone supremacy. With Ascend, Lucent should be able to better compete head-to-head with Cisco in this very fast moving and lucrative market. The resources and products these two companies bring to the table will re-shape the Internet landscape and place everyone else on notice.