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 Date: Wed, 18 Nov 92 12:51:16 EST Message-ID: <8.1992Nov18.125116@AmeriCast.com> 11/18/92 TITLE NASDAQ Amex Market Nasdaq Falls 1.1% As 224 Mil Shares Trade Profit-Takers Hit Tech, Biotech Stocks; Tokos Off 81/4 More Lisa Lee Freeman The Nasdaq market swooned yesterday, flogged by profit- takers looking to lock in gains on some of the market's biggest winners of the recent rally. The Nasdaq composite index, down 0.5% on Monday, plunged another 6.94 points, or 1.09%, to 627.07. That's the equivalent of 35 Dow Jones industrial points. Declines topped advances 4-to-3, while volume surged back over the 200-million-share mark, rising 19% to 224 million. The Nas- daq has been in a major advance, rising about 9% in the past month amid heavy trading as investors have poured into small and mid-cap issues. "There were too many people getting overly bull- ish on the Nasdaq," said Lance Zipper, director of Nasdaq trading at Kidder, Peabody & Co. "And when the profit-taking starts (in this kind of environment) you'll see a bunch of people coming in at same time." Technology stocks, such as Microsoft Corp., Intel Corp. and Apple Computer Inc., got hit the worst. But, Zipper noted, this is precisely the group that went up the most in the recent rally. On the listed exchanges, the NYSE composite index lost 0.30%, while the American Stock Exchange market value index dropped 0.66% as losers topped gainers nearly 4-to-3. In trading, laggard Borland International Inc. plunged 4 to 243/4. Merrill Lynch Capital Markets and Lehman Brothers Inc. downgraded the company and cut their earnings estimates. The brokerages cited concerns about new competition from Microsoft, which has rolled out Windows database products. Microsoft, which had gained more than 9% in the past month, dropped 23/4 to 90. "Microsoft has entered the Windows database market, which Borland dominates, and historically when Microsoft enters a market it ends up dominating it with aggressive pricing and promotions," explained Paul Johnson, an analyst at First Boston Corp. Microsoft has grabbed dominant market positions away from Word- Perfect Corp., in the word processing area, and Lotus Development Corp., in the spreadsheet area. In both cases, the companies were late in launching new Windows-based products and when they did, those products weren't competitive, said Johnson. Microsoft now is expected to prevail in the database market with two Windows- based products. Like WordPerfect and Lotus, Borland is late in rolling out its new Paradox for Windows database product, noted Johnson. In other software trading, Oracle Systems Inc., which slid 11/2 in heavy trading on Monday after Dean Witter Reynolds Inc. downgraded the stock, lost another 11/4 to 201/2. Also, BMC Software Inc. fell 4 to 623/4, Adobe Systems Inc. 25/8 to 321/4 and Lotus Development Corp.- 13/4 to 191/2. Among other major tech issues trapped in the selloff, Apple dropped 21/8 to 551/4, Sun Microsystems Inc.- 21/8 to 311/2 and Intel a point to 673/4. The hot networking group also was run over in the selling stampede. Amex issue Chey- enne Software Inc. dropped 23/4 to 251/2. SynOptics Communica- tions Inc. shed 25/8 to 617/8, Novell Inc. 13/8 to 301/4, Wellfleet Communications Inc. 11/4 to 571/2, Standard Microsys- tems 11/4 to 193/8 and Cisco Systems Inc. 11/8 to 681/2. Sellers also assaulted biotechnology stocks, which had been on the re- bound in recent weeks. Chiron Corp., down 17/8 on Monday, fell another 25/8 to 535/8. Chiron had been strong since popping out of a 13-week base earlier this month. Immunex Corp. shed 33/8 to 50. Kidder, Peabody & Co. downgraded the company to hold from buy based on its sharp runup recently. Also, Biogen Inc.- dropped 2 to 421/2, Synergen Inc. 2 to 571/4, Scigenics Inc. 2 to 8 and Amgen Inc. 11/2 to 723/4. Elsewhere, Tokos Medical Corp., which peaked at 443/4 in January after a sharp runup last year, belly flopped 81/2 to 161/8 on more than four million shares, or seven times its normal turnover. It was the day's most active issue. The provider of home health-care services for pregnant women said it expects to earn less than analysts' esti- mates for the fourth quarter, which range between 27 cents and 32 cents a share. A year earlier, it earned 12 cents a share. Tokos' earnings have been decelerating for the past two quarters. Vola- tile Scimed Life Systems Inc. got carried away in the selloff, dropping 31/8 to 523/4. Another coronary catheter maker, Heart Technology Inc., which on Monday gained 13/8, gave back 11/4 to 171/2. Summit Technology Inc., which climbed to a seven-month high last week, slid 31/8 to 301/2 in active trading. Investors dumped the stock on word that a vision-correcting laser system developed by Lasersight Inc. is expected to take market share away from Summit. Lasersight jumped 21/4 to 141/4. Retailer Price Co. stood in stark contrast with the rest of the market. The stock - which surged earlier this month on takeover speculation but has since drifted lower in slower trading -perked up 11/4 to 401/2. Trading surged to 1.3 million shares, or three times its normal volume. Costco Wholesale Corp., which has been mentioned as a possible suitor for Price Co., was down 11/8 to 257/8. The company warned that same-store sales have fallen to a 5% growth rate, compared with 15% during the first half of the year, and are expected to remain below 10% in the near term. On the upside, Homedco Group Inc. gained a point to 29 - a new closing high. The home health- care services provider said when it posts earnings in the next 30 days, it expects to report revenues of more than $300 million for the year ended Sept. 30, compared with $222 million in fiscal 1991. Cryenco Sciences Inc. bolted ahead 2 to 93/4 in active trading. The company said its Mexican joint venture affiliate, Cryomex S.A. de C.V., won a Mexico City contract to convert near- ly 4,000 buses to liquified natural gas from gasoline or diesel fuel. BankWorcester Corp., which rose in heavier trading last week, leaped 23/8 to 161/2 on three times its normal turnover. The Worcester, Mass.-based banker said it was the subject of an analysts' meeting but was hard pressed to point out any specific reasons for the price increase. In Amex action, Andrea Electron- ics Corp. rocketed 6 to 163/8. The company said it is in talks with major communications companies regarding a new noise cancel- lation product. 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