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Technology Stocks : Internet Guru Discussion -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: steve harmon - analyst who wrote (784)	3/31/1999 1:15:00 PM
From: Herschel Rubin	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 4337

Steve, I notice in your "Steve Harmon's Top Picks for 1999," you don't include any On-Line Brokerage (OLB) stocks. It seems that the OLB's are rapidly becoming a necessary component of any "Top Picks" internet portfolio. Are you planning on adding any? With that said, I'd like to hear your comment on National Discount Brokers (NYSE: NDB). NDB just announced blowout earnings yesterday at $0.58/share vs $0.14 a year ago, representing a staggering 329% earnings growth. NDB dropped yesterday on profit-taking after a 23.4% runup the day before earnings, but it is consolidating nicely today. NDB seems to be a spectacular, undiscovered internet value play at a PE of 28.5, forward PE est of 12.65. Part of the reason is there is NO ANALYST COVERAGE ON NDB... YET. NDB will be announcing a substantial push into internet trading in the next few weeks with a completely rebuilt web trading site designed to go head-to-head with E-Trade's site coupled with a marketing blitz. NDB's Customers will be able to test drive the new web site in a matter of days. For a preview, check out: ndb.com Following is a link to a Yahoo Message Board post in which NDB's PE (trailing & forward) are re-calculated based on yesterday's blowout earnings: messages.yahoo.com@m2.yahoo.com For a compelling value comparison, let's consider NDB versus AMTD: Their fundamentals are astonishingly similar (Revenues and Earnings) but AMTD trades at a PE of 9 times that of NDB (PE of 255 vs 28.5)! Plus NDB scorched AMTD, SCHWABB, ETRADE, etc by placing second in Barron's Mag's rating of OLB's. In other words, NDB is a better quality company than the others, but it's trading at a non-internet stock PE -- for now... It's only a matter of time before NDB is accorded "internet stock" valuation. Your commentary and/or coverage would be appreciated. You could be the first analyst to step into the water and initiate coverage.