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            B R E A K F A S T   W I T H   T H E   F O O L
                      Tuesday, November 14, 2000

benjamin.rogers@enron.com
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"Profundity of thought belongs to youth, clarity of thought to
old age." -- Friedrich Nietzsche


3M ADDS ANOTHER M
3M Post-It Note reads, "Reach out and MicroTouch someone."

By Rick Aristotle Munarriz

4M? Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing (NYSE: MMM) will add
touchscreen specialist MicroTouch (Nasdaq: MTSI) to its
conglomerate in a $160 million acquisition.

For MicroTouch shareholders, the $21-a-share cash buyout price
finds the stock fetching levels it hasn't seen since 1997. The
landscape was much kinder then. Demand for the company's
touchscreen offerings ran high. Through 1998, sales growth was
running at an annualized clip of 35% over the five previous
years.

Then the fundamentals went insane in the resistive membrane. So
far this year the company has had to close down its Australian
office and look into fiduciary improprieties in Taiwan. The
company has divested itself of its once-promising Ibid digital
whiteboards and its Factura high-tech kiosks. The touchscreen
operations that remain have grown the top line by a paltry 5%
over the first nine months of the year.
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Last week the company reported that it was engaged in sale
negotiations. 3M was a logical suitor since the company had
entered into the touchscreen market with its acquisition of
Dynapro Systems over the summer.

Dow component 3M trades at two times trailing revenues and it is
buying out MicroTouch at roughly the total sales over the past
year. But will the deal be accretive to the bottom line?
MicroTouch is struggling with profitability right now. But if 3M
is able to steer MicroTouch back into the operating groove the
company mastered in 1998, then, yes, definitely. The Post-It
reminder to pick up MicroTouch in order to become the top dog in
the touchscreen space will be worth it.
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NEWS TO GO

Super Selection at Everyday Low Gross Margins! That's not the
official Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) slogan, but the company that Sam
Walton founded on producing financial results through whirlwind
inventory turnover on meager markups reported earnings in-line
with projections this morning. Sales climbed by 13% to $45.7
billion while earnings per share rose two pennies to $0.31 a
share -- a 6% gain. Uh-oh. That's falling net margins. However,
same-store sales climbed by 5% and the company's international
sales shot up 26%.

It's a big day for other retailers too. Home Depot (NYSE: HD) is
set to erect its quarterly report while Target (NYSE: TGT) has
its earnings conference call slated for 10:30 a.m. ET. After
yesterday's close, Too (NYSE: TOO) reported earnings that came
in a penny ahead of estimates. The specialty retailer that was
spun off by Limited (NYSE: LTD) also expressed comfort with the
December quarter forecasts.

Meanwhile, the investing community is fumbling for a Staples
(Nasdaq: SPLS) remover after the company reported earnings that
came in below analyst projections. The office supply superstore
chain also said that profits would fall short of expectations
for the current quarter. However, it does see growth of at least
30% next year.

Medic! The bleeding at WebMD (Nasdaq: HLTH) is running more
profuse than once feared. The company reported a
wider-than-expected loss for its quarterly checkup. As the
company begins to digest recent acquisitions, WebMD is looking
at a deficit next year of between $75 million and $100 million.
The prognosis calls for massive restructuring that finds the
company having to reduce previous revenue guidance for 2001.
Thankfully the company is cash-rich and debt-free. No one is
calling Dr. Koop for a second opinion, yet.

Stop the presses -- Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) is buying a company.
OK, keep the presses rolling, the networking titan does this all
the time. The target of Cisco's affections is Australian
high-speed chipset developer Radiata in a $295 million
transaction. Onward.

Check out yesterday's Foolish market wrap-up with just one click.
http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=193907
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EDITORS' PICK

Find out how and why Learning Tree's stock value has been
growing like a, um, weed.
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