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======================== THE MOTLEY FOOL ========================
                   B R E A K F A S T   N E W S
                     Thursday, May 17, 2001
benjamin.rogers@enron.com
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IN THIS ISSUE
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- TOP STORY: CITIGROUP GOES SOUTH FOR $12.5 BILLION
  http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=410950

- NEWS TO GO: HEWLETT-PACKARD, CIENA, AND KMART
  http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=410951

- HOT TOPICS: RATE CUTS, APPLE, AND DISNEY
  http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=410952

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"Never go out to meet trouble. If you will just sit still, nine
cases out of 10 someone will intercept it before it reaches
you." -- Calvin Coolidge

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TOP STORY
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CITIGROUP GOES SOUTH FOR $12.5 BILLION
Citigroup (NYSE: C) will buy Mexico's No. 1 financial services
entity, Grupo Financiero Banamex-Accival ("Banacci"), for $12.5
billion -- half in cash and half in Citigroup stock, based on
the May 11 closing price of $49.26.

>>FULL STORY:
http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=410954

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NEWS TO GO
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If you lower expectations enough... Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HWP)
reported Q2 EPS of $0.16, against $0.45 last year, but beating
Street expectations of $0.15. The company began the quarter with
an estimate of $0.40 per share, which it reduced to $0.35 in
mid-April around the time it announced it would reduce
management by 3,000 out of 14,000. The company said Q3 EPS
estimates of $0.23 were reasonable. President and CEO Carly
Fiorina reportedly said on a conference call with analysts,
"While we don't see it getting a lot worse, we don't see it
getting substantially better in the near term.''

Ciena not burnt. Fiber optic systems vendor Ciena (Nasdaq: CIEN)
continued to avoid the telecom slowdown and reported Q2 EPS of
$0.20 -- excluding acquisition charges and payroll taxes for
stock options -- more than three times the company's year-ago
showing of $0.06 a share and beating analysts' consensus
forecast by $0.04 a share. Ciena has maintained that its
business is relatively unaffected by telecom customer spending
woes because it makes new, advanced systems, not equipment for
legacy systems. Ciena also promoted Chief Operating Officer Gary
Smith to Chief Executive, moving current Chairman and CEO
Patrick Nettles to the position of executive chairman. Jeff
Fischer wrote yesterday about the insidious practice of
trumpeting numbers that exclude some kinds of onetime charges.
http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=410955

M'm! M'm!... OK? Drip Portfolio holding Campbell Soup (NYSE:
CPB) posted Q3 EPS of $0.30, meeting Street expectations, but
down $0.02 a share from last year. Net sales increased from
$1.39 billion to $1.44 billion, but advertising expenses jumped
50% and total marketing expenses 10%. The company expects Q4
earnings to be reduced by $0.03 a share due to the restructuring
of Arnott's, Campbell's Australian biscuit operation, and $0.02
to $0.03 a share due to the integration of Unilever's soup and
sauce business.
http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=410956

Bluelight district. Discount retailer Kmart (NYSE: KM) reported
a Q1 loss of $0.05 a share, against a $0.06-a-share profit a
year ago, despite a 1.7% increase in total sales. The company
said it was spending more on new computer systems and customer
service. Yet its stock is the No. 3 winner in the S&P 500 this
year, up 91%.
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HOT TOPICS
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THE RATE CUT AND MORTGAGES
The Fed cut short-term interest rates by half a percent Tuesday.
What effect will this have on home mortgage loans?
http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=410957

HOW TO WIN "WIN" CONVERTS
The "core" of the argument: If Apple wants serious growth, stop
preaching to the choir and go after the Windows crowd.
http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=410958

DISNEY AND DEMOGRAPHICS
As the world's demographics evolve, is the entertainment
behemoth doing enough to keep up with the changes?
http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=410959

>>MORE HOT TOPICS
http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=410960

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in Free Trade Commissions.* Click Here to Apply Now!
http://www.lnksrv.com/m.asp?i=410961
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MsgId: msg-24556-2001-05-17_9-04-38-3267835_2_Plain_MessageAddress.msg-09:17:12(5-17-2001)
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