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Technology Stocks : Compaq -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Night Writer who wrote (48579)	2/17/1999 11:16:00 AM
From: rupert1	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 97611

NW: Some funds require that a comapny pays a dividend. But it is not as simple as that. The quality of the dividend is critical. Last year, Mason explained that CPQ started its dividend very low, and improved it by very small increments, so that it could earn a reputation in the investment community for reliability; nothing hurts a stock more than having to reduce, suspend or cancel its dividend. As the length of time that CPQ pays a dividend increases, and if the dividend curve is always upward, however incrementally, then its reputation as a safe haven for pension funds and other conservative income or mixed income and growth funds increases. The reputation has to be earned over a decade or more. Once earned it provides a company with a solid shareholder base among the institutions and earns a premium for the p/e.