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To: Boplicity who wrote (23903)	3/9/1999 10:57:00 AM
From: Ruffian	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 152472

Go Sprint Go> Sprint racing MCI, AT&T Some analysts say the underdog is a decent bet The Kansas City Star It's looking like a horse race for 100 between [ Sprint Corp. ] , [ MCI ] WorldCom and [ AT&T Corp. ] All three long-distance giants outdistanced the market last year and are looking impressive out of the gate again. Caught up in the recent market rally, each is now trading between $85 and $90 a share. Market handicappers generally favor the competitive prospects of MCI and AT&T, but most analysts still think Sprint is a decent bet. In fact, some think the company looks cheap relative to competitors. Sprint closed Monday at a new 52-week high of 89 3/4, up 2 5/16. The company is trading at about 24 times estimated earnings for fiscal 1999. AT&T and MCI have multiples of about 27 and 44, respectively. On the other end of the spectrum, start-up long-distance company and market darling [ Qwest Communications ] closed trading Monday with a price-earnings multiple of 314. ''As long as Sprint trades at this multiple, it looks pretty attractive,'' said Conrad Stuart of Deutsche Bank Securities, who has a buy rating on the stock with a 12-month price target of $95. Stuart cited the company's ability to sustain double-digit earnings growth in the face of falling-long distance prices and said he expects earnings growth to continue this year. Sprint's lower price-earnings multiple relative to AT&T and MCI reflects lower growth prospects and continued questions about its strategy for entering local markets around the country, analysts said. Both AT&T and MCI have invested billions to bypass the regional Bells and deliver their own package of local telephone service and high-speed data and Internet access to residential and business customers in major metropolitan areas nationwide. Sprint plans to deliver a similar service, called the Integrated On Demand Network, or ION. But instead of building its own links directly to customers, it hopes to deliver that service to customers by leasing access lines from competitors. That plan could be derailed by regulatory delays and reluctant competitors. Also, analysts suspect Sprint's strategy might involve higher capital expenditures than had been forecast, putting continued pressure on its earnings. Given those risks and the recent run-up in the company's stock price, Daniel Reingold of Merrill Lynch says the company is fairly valued and gives it a neutral rating. Others see a merger in Sprint's future and are more enthusiastic. At the very least, ''I think it can offer a better return than the market average over the next few years,'' said Mel Martin, an analyst with Edward Jones in St. Louis.