Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.ibd From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: NASDAQ Amex Market Nasdaq Up 2% For Week, 9% In Past Date: Mon, 9 Nov 92 12:21:57 EST Message-ID: <13.1992Nov9.122158@AmeriCast.com> 11/9/92 TITLE NASDAQ Amex Market Nasdaq Up 2% For Week, 9% In Past Five Powerful Advance Has Been Accompanied By Heavy Trading Lisa Lee Freeman The Nasdaq market extended its rally amid heavy trading on Friday, outperforming the Big Board yet again. It was the Nasdaq's third gain in as many days. The composite index tacked on 2.74 points, or 0.45%, to 616.82. Advances beat declines 13- to-11, while volume eased 4% to 229 million shares. For the week, the index is up 2%. The NYSE composite index slipped 0.12%, while the American Stock Exchange market value index added 0.15% as winners led 268-to-244. In trading, Price Co. surged 61/2 to 433/4 on takeover speculation. Trading topped three million shares, or about 13 times the stock's normal turnover. Possible suitors mentioned include Sears, Roebuck & Co., Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Home Depot Inc. and Kmart Corp. The San Diego, Calif.- based retailer couldn't be reached for comment. Costco Wholesale Corp.- , which also has been metioned as a possible suitor, rose 13/8 to 283/4. Both Price Co. and Costco operate warehouse-style retail chains. MTC Electronic Technologies Co., which has been in a strong updraft for the past few months, lurched ahead anoth- er 23/4 to 13 - a new closing high. A spokesperson for the com- pany attributed the move to increased interest in MTC's exclusive pact to provide cellular services in Shanghai. The company won the contract a year ago, but just recently began testing the sys- tem. And, so far, there have been no problems, he said. Ten months ago, MTC won another contract to provide cellular services at Hainan Island, located at the southern tip of China. Also, the company is negotiating to set up and operate paging systems in China. Cellular stocks have been hot in recent sessions in the wake of American Telephone & Telegraph Co.'s bid for McCaw Cellu- lar Communications Inc. Biotechnology issues continued gaining momentum. Leading the group's charge in recent weeks has been Biogen Inc. The stock, which rose 23/4 to a 10-month high of 421/4 on Friday, has been galloping ahead on several pieces of good news. Sales of Biogen's hepatitis B vaccine and its geneti- cally engineered alpha interpheron have been higher than expect- ed, said Stuart Weisbrod, an analyst at Merrill Lynch Capital Markets. Alpha interpheron is used as an anti-viral and anti- cancer treatment. Also, he said, data concerning the company's lead therapeutic product under development, called Hirulog, "looks great." Preliminary clinical results for the anticoagulant will be presented at a conference on Nov. 16. On Friday, Bear, Stearns & Co. repeated its buy recommendation on Biogen and raised its fourth-quarter earnings estimate by 22 cents to 45 cents a share based on the strong sales. A year ear- lier, the company earned three cents a share. Among other biotechs, Chiron Corp. soared 43/8 to 527/8, Somatogen Inc. 21/4 to 251/2, Synergen Inc. 2 to 53, Gensia Pharmaceutical Inc. 2 to 261/4 and Genzyme Corp. a point to 401/2. Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Jeffrey Casdin said third-quarter results, reported late Thursday, showed Chiron coming close to the break-even level on an operating basis. Diagnostic product sales, he noted, were stronger than expected and costs lower than expected. This shows Chiron has been able to get expenses under control, which has been one of investors' top concerns. Casdin said Chiron is on its way to making a profit by early next year. Even depressed Centocor Inc. got a boost, ris- ing 11/2 to 13. The stock has dropped from a high of more than 60 in January. It ran into trouble after failing to win regulatory approval for its Centoxin product earlier this year. Weisbrod said although the biotech group has been performing well in the past few weeks, it doesn't necessarily mark a turnaround for the beaten-down group. The move, he said, is not sustainable into 1993 because there are no big drug approvals expected in the in- dustry until late 1993 or early 1994. Oppenheimer's Casdin con- tends that the group has found a bottom and is poised to trend higher. However, he said, "we're not going back to the entire group taking off all at once," as had been the case last year. Recent gains, Weisbrod noted, primarily have been limited to the "top-tier" companies, which should remain strong due to bottom fishing. This year the top-tier stocks had gotten walloped just as hard as the lower-quality issues on several major disappoint- ments in the group. Top-tier stocks are companies such as Biogen and Immunex with well-developed product pipelines. Also, they have or soon will have earnings. Technology issues continued to rally. BMC Software Inc., which gained 2 on Thursday, added another 2 to 631/2. BMC has been rebounding for the past several months from a prolonged slump. Also, Borland International Inc. rose 11/8 to 331/2 and Microsoft Corp. 7/8 to 923/4. Microsoft was up as much as 13/8 intraday. Elsewhere, Medco Containment Services Inc., up 11/4 on Thursday, gained another 11/2 to 321/4 in heavy trading. Medco, after a two-year, six-fold move, has been in a holding pattern for most of 1992. Nature's Bounty Inc., which on Nov. 2 split 3-for-1, climbed 11/4 to 113/4 on about nine times its normal volume. The stock has been on a rock- etship ride all year. Another highflier, Gendex Corp., added 21/8 to 42 - a new closing high. The X- ray company's stock has dou- bled this year. On the downside, McCaw- , up 73/8 points in the previous two sessions, retreated 11/8 to 307/8, while Lin Broad- casting Corp., a majority of which is owned by McCaw, slipped 17/8 to 751/4. Lin had been up 111/4 points since the AT&T-McCaw announcement on Wednesday. Other telecommunications companies that had rallied on the McCaw news also retreated. ADC Telecom- munications Inc., up 2 on Thursday, surrendered a point to 391/4 and Qualcomm Inc., up 11/4 on Thursday, gave back 11/2 to 25. But Amex issue Resurgens Communications Group Inc., ahead 7/8 in the previous outing, gained another 23/4 to 213/8. Resurgens, which sells cellular telephones, reported strong operating earn- ing on Thursday. Elsewhere, laggard Food Lion Inc. Class A skid- ded a point to 81/4 on a televised report showing unsanitary con- ditions at the supermarket chain's stores. Food Lion's stock has been on the skids all year. This article is copyright 1992 Investors Business Daily. Redis- tribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM