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            B R E A K F A S T   W I T H   T H E   F O O L
                    Wednesday, December 6, 2000

benjamin.rogers@enron.com
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"There are more pleasant things to do than beat up people."
--- Muhammad Ali


COMVERSE NETWORKS A GOOD QUARTER
Comverse Technology reported estimate-beating third-quarter
results after the bell yesterday.

By LouAnn Lofton

Comverse Technology (Nasdaq: CMVT) reported third-quarter
earnings yesterday after the bell. The company, which makes
systems and software for telecommunications, had an increase in
revenues of 37% and net income growth of 52% when compared to
the third quarter last year.

Comverse's sales improved to $317.97 million versus $232.89
million in the year-ago period. Comverse earned $68.41 million,
excluding one-time charges for acquisitions, up from last year's
$44.96 million. The company beat the consensus estimate
according to First Call by two cents with earnings per share of
$0.38. Comverse had earnings per share in last year's third
quarter of $0.28.

In the third quarter, Comverse acquired Exalink and Gaya
Software. The company took an after-tax charge of $4 million for
costs related to the purchases of those businesses.

Comverse improved gross margins to 62.6% from 61.4% in last
year's third quarter. The company also increased its net margins
from 19.3% to 21.5%.

Driving the results for Comverse was strong demand for the
company's products from wireless providers. A majority of
Comverse's sales are to wireless network operators.


AFTER-HOURS COVERAGE

WORMS IN APPLE'S HOLIDAY QUARTER
By John Del Vecchio and Dave Marino-Nachison
With Gateway warning of a poor start to the holiday season less
than a week ago, there was definitely reason to figure that
Apple wouldn't be far behind in warning about near-term profits.
But in its most-recent quarter, Apple was the victim of its own
poor execution. How low can this cash-rich company's shares go?
FULL STORY>>
http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=230061

GREENSPAN SPEAKS, STOCKS ROCKET
By Bill Mann
In a New York speech, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan
said he is convinced that the torrid pace of economic growth
fueled by access to easy money has slowed. Greenspan remarked on
the fact that technology advancements have given the country
nearly unprecedented ability to gain efficiency -- but many
players in the high-tech market got to the game too late. Should
the economy slow too much, the Fed may just drop rates next
year. For now, though, the tightening bias is a thing of the
past. FULL STORY>>
http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=230062
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NEWS TO GO

Home Depot (NYSE: HD) and 3M (NYSE: MM) have new chiefs and
they're both from General Electric (NYSE: GE). Home Depot named
Robert L. Nardelli its new president and CEO effective
immediately. 3M picked W. James McNerney Jr. as the company's
new chairman and CEO. Nardelli had been president and CEO of GE
Power Systems, and McNerney was head of GE Aircraft Engines.
Both men were being considered as replacements for GE's chairman
Jack Welsh, but were passed over in favor of fellow GE-er
Jeffrey Immelt.

Car parts retailer AutoZone (NYSE: AZO) reported a drop in
first-quarter earnings yesterday. The company's net income was
$53.8 million, down from last year's $56 million. Sales grew 6%
to $1.06 billion. Buoyed by share repurchases, AutoZone
increased earnings per share to $0.46 from the year-ago period's
$0.40. The company blamed the net income shortfall on "a
difficult sales environment."

Data storage company EMC (NYSE: EMC) said this morning that it
expects fourth-quarter earnings to increase by at least 55% over
last year's Q4 results. The company also thinks revenues will
grow to $12 billion in 2001. CEO Michael Ruettgers said in an
interview with Reuters that his company is "very comfortable"
with the current 2001 revenue projections, which are almost
double the company's 1999 levels.

Lante Group (Nasdaq: LNTE), an Internet consulting business, is
cutting its staff by 19%. This translates to about 120 jobs, and
the closure of the company's Singapore and Delhi offices. After
the cut-backs, Lante will have around 500 employees. Lante hopes
to save around $4 million with the reductions, starting in the
first quarter of 2001. The company is trying to become "cash
break-even" during the first half of 2001. Lante's president and
CEO, Rudy Puryear, said, "We did not react as quickly as we
should have to the speed and magnitude of this dramatically
changing environment. As a result, we are disappointed with our
recent financial results. Moreover, the decision to reduce our
workforce was very difficult, but necessary. We are implementing
several steps to reposition the business to grow revenue and
achieve profitability in the coming year."
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EDITORS' PICK

Despite the recent volatility, aspects of the storage industry
are growing quickly.
http://www.fool.com/m.asp?i=230063
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