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Technology Stocks : AT&T -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jenne who wrote (2422)	5/9/1999 8:29:00 PM
From: Ibexx	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 4298

Beat the Times article by at least 2 weeks. I swear they (The Times and other rags) must have gleaned through SI threads daily and copied our ideas. Message 9158224 Ibexx

To: Jenne who wrote (2422)	5/9/1999 8:41:00 PM
From: Badshah J.Wazir	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 4298

NY times original: -----An Internet Play for Widows and Orphans =====================================================================. =====================================================================. Related Articles The New York Times: Your Money Forum Join a Discussion on Investing By GRETCHEN MORGENSON T&T'S transformation from telecommunications dinosaur to technology-stock dynamo may have been clinched this week with the company's $58 billion deal to buy Mediaone Group, one of the nation's biggest cable television operators. The deal, combined with the recent purchase of Tele-Communications Inc., means that AT&T will become the largest cable company in the United States, with 16 million customers and networks reaching more than 26 million homes. Mediaone is the latest in a spate of acquisitions -- $124 billion worth -- made by C. Michael Armstrong since he took the top job at AT&T 18 months ago. The deal maker has morphed the 114-year-old behemoth into the kind of hot technology concern favored by day traders on the Internet. Widows and orphans, say hello to the Motley Fool. The vision that Armstrong, 60, has for his company is vast. "The new AT&T is a global communications company that can satisfy customers end to end with any service, anywhere," he said in an interview Friday. Can he really provide local and long-distance phone service, wireless communications, Internet access and cable TV service to consumers around the world? Taking a vision this large and turning it into reality will take years, of course. The technical challenges are daunting. But while at AT&T, Armstrong has turned skeptics into believers by making good on all that he has promised so far. Revenue growth and earnings targets have been met. The $1.6 billion he vowed to cut from expenses in two years vanished in one. And the 15,000 jobs he planned to cut over 24 months became 20,000 jobs eliminated in 12. In the meantime, AT&T, unlike technology upstarts, had $53 billion in revenues last year, $6.4 billion in earnings and -- what's this? -- a dividend. At Friday's close of $60.4375, the stock yielded 1.46 percent. Dave Powers, senior technology analyst at Edward Jones in St. Louis, said AT&T was well positioned to capitalize on the need for increased network capacity, known as bandwidth, to reduce data bottlenecks. "Before, people looked at AT&T and saw the bulk of their revenues came from consumer long distance, a business under attack," Powers said. "And AT&T equipment had fallen behind the technology curve. But now the focus is going from consumer long distance to a company offering these broadband pipes, a much more exciting player." Armstrong, 60, is rooted in technology. He spent 31 years at I.B.M., starting in 1961, and managed research and development of Big Blue's communications systems and personal computers from 1981 to 1987, years of much turmoil in the PC business. He was running I.B.M. Latin America when he left in 1992. AT&T's chief also knows how to refashion a company under siege. From 1992 to 1997, he was chairman of General Motors' Hughes Electronics division, a defense contractor he dragged into the commercial satellite business when the cold war ended. G.M.'s Class H shares more than quadrupled during Armstrong's tenure. But his biggest act yet may be turning stodgy AT&T into a top-performing technology stock that even a conservative investor can love. The stock has risen almost 20 percent so far this year. But at 28 times trailing earnings, it is downright cheap for an Internet play. Especially one that has real assets, a healthy balance sheet and, perhaps best of all, management over the age of consent.