More beefier picks:
WMB - Williams Companies. . .This one is more of a swing than the last 2. . .probably about 2 months or so, IMO. Should this week turn out ok, Williams could break thru its 52-week hi of about 37 with blue sky above. They have received much attention of late, as well as a major PR blitz. . .it seems every bozo on CNBC suddenly claims to have WMB in their port. Now that is the downside, IMO. I generally do not like any stock that is popular with the big shots on the street. But now and then even Wall Street analysts can get lucky. . .Williams Companies is a seller of gas, petroleum and energy products. . .boring. . .but just as WHX, they have diversified making them strong against market declines as can be seen in their chart. With 10,000 employees, Williams is hardly an up and comer. But recently their focus has been in the communications business. They have programs where they will be running fibre optic cables thru their existing natural gas pipelines. They have developed an interactive terminal in seatbacks for sky boxes of pro sporting events. . .500 were used at this years Super Bowl: biz.yahoo.com
Williams is a major wholesaler of 10Gbs high capacity fibre optic network thru their 600 million dollar investment in Nortel, which has a 90 percent market share in this high-capcity fibre wholesale market.
biz.yahoo.com In fact, WMB has been signing so many communications deals, that it is slowly changing their image on the street. Too many to discuss: biz.yahoo.com Financially, WMB is not very impressive, but by making these strategic alliances in the high-capacity telcom industry it put them in a different catagory of valuation. Currently at about a 100 PE, it is hardly undervalued. But then there are few high-tech up-and-comers in the communications industry that can also say they have a 15 billion dollar market cap. Yahoo shows 10 percent of the stock is held short, but with recent gains and potential further gains, should they break their 52 wk hi, that could mean lots of short covering. Enormous float of 389 million means this is NOT a stock that could EVER be considered a high-flier.
This is more of a defensive play than an aggressive one. . .and is not expected to double soon like an internet. However, there is a possibility that they could be a candidate for takeover by a major telecom player like an MCI/Worldcom, A.T.and T. or Sprint. However, upon doing so, they would probably cut the company up and sell off much of the assets, since none of those would want a gas company. I am not counting on takeover, since this company is very hard to place an accurate value on, based on their recent deals in the communications biz. Anyway, there is no internet E-commerce thing going on here. . .however the new broadband internet that is being developed will very much require high-capacity fibre-optics for a primary mode of transmission. . . so in a sense, they are ready to be a major backbone provider for the new internet. I currently hold no position and have never held a position in WMB.
T - A.T. And T. while on the subject of communications and the new internet, the ATT / TCI merger is nearing completion. T has been devalued gradually since its initial runup in anticipation of the merged companies potential for being one of the leaders in the internet world. The cable modem will bring internet into homes that have no computers and that will change everything. If you think the internet has exploded now, wait until EVERY home will have it coming in thru their cable modems. . .always on 24 hours a day and running in conjunction with the glorious television. I have said over and over here that I predict T will be one of the leading money makers from the new internet and by 2002 will be at the top of the heap along with Microsoft. Another huge float slow moving long termer. Some other ways to play T is to buy TCI shares which will convert to T upon completion of the merger [all barriers of merger have been overcome]. Only problem, you can buy TCI about a hundred different ways. . .here are some of them: TCOMA, TCOMB, LBTYA, LBTYA, TCIVA, TCIVB
TCI invested heavily in ATHM and ATHM bought EXCITE, so both At Home and Excite will be under ATT's control.. . .is the picture becoming clearer? ATT WAS going to have a ATT Consumer Services Division, which was to be a tracking stock, but this was reportedly cancelled. So I am no longer sure the ratios of conversion of many of the smaller stock variations of TCI.
One that I can't seem to get good info on is TUNE and TUNEP, which is TCI Music. TCI Music is one of the premier music companies, which delivers music directly to end users the world over thru several divisions. Direct delivery is what the NEW internet is all about. With broadband internet, your videos and music will be sent right down the wire or via satellite to your home in REAL-TIME. No more buying or renting of videos or music, unless you really want to own the original products. But it will be cheaper to download the music and create your own CDs or DVDs. TUNE has a big float and also moves like a tortoise. but sitting down here under 5 bucks a share, it makes me wonder exactly how it will be absorbed by the giant A.T. and T. However, reading the proxy is akin to reading the U.S. Postal Service regulation manual. At one point, TUNE was convertible into LBTYA, which was to become ATT Consumer Services tracking stock. . .but with this tracking stock being cancelled, nobody seems to know how these smaller entities will be digested. One thing I am counting on, is that the newly merged company will take on a more cutting edge image. ATT will no longer be looked at as the spoiled telephone company that calls you at dinner and begs you to come back. It will be seen as the clear cut leader in broadband technology, IMO. I currently hold no position in T, but I and close family members do hold various TCI companies long.
CS and COX are 2 cable companies that have yet to find a suitor. As swing trades, they are obvious. Every major wants a cable partner and the cable partners are nearly all gone. So without going into detail about these 2, they have obvious takeover value over the next 2 to 6 months. And of course our ARTT is the sleeper of the broadband wireless group. I am hoping it calms down a bit, so we can resume accumulation. . .lately it has been trying to run, tho it has not been daytraded much.
I am communication'd out now.
More later. . .
Rande Is |
