Investor's Business Daily articles from March 2003, page 2

Investor's Business Daily archives from March 2003

Stocks Reclaim Most 0f Morning Losses.(A)(THE BIG PICTURE)
March 28, 2003... Byline: CHRIS GESSEL Traders stayed focused on the war with Iraq Thursday as stocks recovered from an early sell-off. The market slumped at the open. The buzz centered on a Washington Post story that quoted military sources saying...

Bush, Blair Vow Fight Until Saddam's Gone, Hint At A Longer War; Heavier Baghdad Bombing; Both stress allied goals, not a timetable, are key; enemy losses mounting.(A)
March 28, 2003... Byline: FROM IBD NEWS SERVICES President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair vowed on Thursday to wage war for as long as it takes to eliminate Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, as Iraqi resistance raised questions about how long...

Many Nations Vote No On War; Their Investors Cast Ballots, Too; Recent dollar weakness raises some worries, but faith in the buck holds.(A)
March 28, 2003... Byline: JED GRAHAM While France and Germany made it clear at the U.N. that they oppose the U.S.-led war against Iraq, foreign investors are casting a decidedly different vote. Every day, they and other foreign investors pump nearly...

IBD'S TOP 10.(A)
March 28, 2003... Bush, Blair Vow To Soldier On 1President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair vowed to wage war as long as it takes to eliminate Iraq's Saddam Hussein. Speaking to reporters at the Camp David presidential retreat, they called on the...

AFTER THE CLOSE.(TO THE POINT)
March 28, 2003... THE SEC wants more info on valuation methods of stable-value mutual funds, conservative portfolios that have recently won investor attention. T-MOBILE USA is selling a wireless camcorder phone that records up to 10 seconds of video and...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
March 28, 2003... MEDICAL HealthSouth in default, fires CFO The rehab services firm took a step toward bankruptcy after bankers deemed it in default, prompting the company to say it'll miss $367 mil in bond and interest payments next week. J.P. Morgan...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
March 28, 2003... TECHNOLOGY Computer Sciences strikes deal The tech services firm won a $1.6 bil deal to manage cell phone maker Motorola's technology operations over 10 years. As part of the pact, some 1,300 Motorola workers will shift to Computer...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
March 28, 2003... FINANCE NASD probes Grubman's ex-boss The National Association of Securities Dealers is investigating Kevin McCaffrey for allegedly failing to supervise ex-telecom analyst Jack Grubman for Citigroup's Salomon Smith Barney unit....

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
March 28, 2003... ACCOUNTING FASB chief gives options warning Robert Herz, chairman of the Financial Accounting Standards Board, said some firms may be preparing to fight a new fee system aimed at supporting FASB and a new auditing oversight board. That...

IN BRIEF.(TO THE POINT)
March 28, 2003... Usana Health will earn 32-33 cents in Q1 vs. prior views for 28-30 cents due to better-than expected sales of its nutritional and personal care products. Usana rose 9% to a four-year closing high of 19.14. HMOs argued a recent Supreme...

TRENDS & INNOVATIONS.(TO THE POINT)
March 28, 2003... ** A broad, slow earthquake that started Feb. 26 in the Northwest is releasing energy equal to the 6.7 magnitude quake of two years ago. No one can feel it now, but it could climax in an 8-9 magnitude quake off the coast. **...

Dumas Made His Words Count; The Write Stuff: He riveted readers with "The Three Musketeers' and other books.(LEADERS & SUCCESS)
March 28, 2003... Byline: MICHAEL MINK Alexandre Dumas was well acquainted with hardship. He was the son of Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, a legendary general of Napoleon's. Gen. Dumas died from an illness when Alexandre was 6. The heartbroken boy was left...

Dumas At A Glance.(LEADERS & SUCCESS)
March 28, 2003... Dumas At A Glance Born: 1802 at Villers-Cotterets, France. Died: 1870 in France. Education: Ended his formal schooling at age 14. Achievements: ** Helped usher in the French movement in writing known as Romanticism. ...

Sony Hands Off Human Resources Functions To Outside Firm; More companies turning over HR duties beyond just payroll and benefits.(LEADERS & SUCCESS)(MANAGING A SUCCESSFUL COMPANY)
March 28, 2003... Byline: MARILYN ALVA When Ed Cotter started work as senior vice president of human resources at Sony Electronics Inc. three years ago, the department, from a technology standpoint, was still in the Dark Ages. Its patched-together...

Intel Takes Lead Role In Venture Funding; Most Active Investor In Tech; Shift in focus: Venture arm once dabbled in dot-coms; now it's zeroing in on Wi-Fi.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
March 28, 2003... Byline: JAMES DETAR The name of the top high-tech venture investor in 2002 may surprise you. It isn't some high-profile venture capital firm. It's semiconductor maker Intel Corp. Intel Capital is the chipmaker's venture arm. It put...

With Lean Business Model, United Online Takes On AOL; Spends Far Less On Marketing; Goal is to turn Net access into a commodity product and then compete on price.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)(Q & A)
March 28, 2003... Byline: BRIAN DEAGON Mark Goldston already had a distinguished business career before he was asked to join NetZero Inc., a fledgling Internet start-up, in early 1999. His background included senior positions at Faberge USA Inc.,...

CHELSEA PROPERTY GROUP INC. Roseland, N.J.; Retail Mall Operator Is Shopping For Deals.(THE NEW AMERICA)
March 28, 2003... Byline: KIRK SHINKLE It's no secret that a lot of retailers are struggling. But what about their landlords? At least one of them, Chelsea Property Group Inc., is doing pretty well. The Roseland, N.J.-based real estate investment trust...

DEAN FOODS CO. Dallas, Texas; Dairy Processor Looks To Milk Other Products.(THE NEW AMERICA)
March 28, 2003... Byline: AMY REEVES Despite all the ads promoting it, milk just isn't a big hit with most American adults. They prefer beer and soda pop to the stuff your mom used to make you drink. So Dean Foods Co., the nation's biggest dairy...

Major Groups Post Inflow For March; Market Rally Sets Pace; Feb. stock fund outflow hit $11.1 bil, bond funds took in $19.6 bil, ICI says.(MUTUAL FUNDS)(INVESTMENT TRENDS)
March 28, 2003... Byline: DAN MOREAU Mutual fund investors appeared to be paying more attention to the rallying stock market than war news in March as several major fund firms reported a rebound in inflow to their stock funds. The groups' tally for...

BATTLE LINES.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)
March 28, 2003... U.S. Walks Out Of U.N. debate The U.S. ambassador to the U.N. walked out of a debate on the Iraqi war after Iraq's ambassador accused the U.S. of trying to exterminate the Iraqi people. "I did sit through quite a long part of what he had...

THE REAL MOST ACTIVE Dow, S&P 500 Log Mild Losses As Trade Thins.(MAKING MONEY)
March 28, 2003... Byline: CRAIG SHAW NYSE stocks closed with tame losses on lighter trade Thursday as some reports suggested the Iraq campaign would last longer than expected. The Dow industrials slipped 0.3% and the benchmark S&P 500 lost 0.2%. ...

Surgical Tool Maker Enjoys Peer Strength.(B)(NYSE STOCKS IN THE NEWS)
March 28, 2003... Byline: Craig Shaw Stryker Corp. cleared a 10-week consolidation last week, but met resistance just above 70. It may be forming a high handle, offering a second buy point. It's outperformed the benchmark S&P 500 index by 38% in the last...

THE REAL MOST ACTIVE Nasdaq's Losses Stay Stingy As War Rolls On.(B)
March 28, 2003... Byline: DAVID SAITO-CHUNG The Nasdaq gave up 0.2% Thursday after Wednesday's 0.3% loss. Volume grew slightly. Robert Mondavi got squashed as much as 4.44 points in the early going, but cut its loss to 1.34 points to end at 21.63. On...

Growth Comes Back For Disk Drive Firm.(B)(NASDAQ STOCKS IN THE NEWS)
March 28, 2003... Byline: David Saito-Chung Hutchinson Technology has a 92 Relative Price Strength Rating, ranking high among fellow tech stocks. But the stock has failed to hurdle 28 over the past three years. The Hutchinson, Minn.-based firm makes...

Market Pauses, But Breakouts Proceed.(A)
March 27, 2003... Byline: CHRIS GESSEL Stocks shuffled up and ultimately down on Wednesday. Investors paid little attention to some weak economic data as the U.S.-led coalition closed in on Baghdad. The housing market, a pillar of strength over the...

Housing, Durables Show Weakness Ahead Of War Weather Trims Home Sales But durable goods orders don't enjoy that excuse; war, oil concerns blamed.(A)
March 27, 2003... Byline: JED GRAHAM New-home sales fell sharply last month to the slowest pace since August 2000, while a key gauge of capital spending fell for the third month in four. Winter storms in much of the country helped send home sales...

Fierce Fighting In Central Iraq, South U.S. Airborne In North, Too President praises troops in visit to command post, meeting with Blair today Iraqi Column Rolls Out Of Basra, Is Instantly Attacked By Allied Forces.(A)
March 27, 2003... Byline: FROM IBD NEWS SERVICES Heavy fighting raged in south and central Iraq Wednesday and at least 15 Iraqi civilians were killed in a Baghdad street by what may have been an errant U.S. missile. At the same time, U.S. officials...

AFTER THE CLOSE.(A)(AFTER THE CLOSE)
March 27, 2003... CAREER EDUCATION will buy Whitman Education for $230 mil. Whitman holders will get $6 cash and $8.25 in Career stock per Whitman share. SCHERING-PLOUGH, Teva Pharma and Geneva Pharma settled a patent dispute over Schering's ribaviran...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(A)
March 27, 2003... ENERGY Shell to cut 4,000 jobs by 2006 Royal Dutch/Shell will cut costs by 15%-20% and ax exploration and production jobs worldwide, including more than 1,500 from affiliates and joint ventures. The oil giant aims to cut $500...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(A)
March 27, 2003... RETAIL Sears credit card unit up for sale The department store chain said it may sell its $30 bil credit card portfolio so it can focus on its retailing business. The credit card business, which represents nearly two-thirds of Sears'...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(A)
March 27, 2003... MEDIA 1,000 to face the music at Sony Or, rather, face unemployment lines. The Japanese media and electronics firm's music unit is expected to announce job cuts before its fiscal year ends March 31, a source said. The restructuring...

THE ECONOMY.(A)
March 27, 2003... Guynn: lots of money in system The economy is being held back by concerns over Iraq but is poised for growth once they are resolved, Atlanta Fed President Jack Guynn said. "An enormous amount of liquidity is on the sidelines," he said....

NATION.(A)
March 27, 2003... High court hears sodomy case The court seemed deeply divided over a Texas law that makes it a crime for gay couples to engage in sex acts that are legal for heterosexual couples. "There is a long history of the state making moral...

WORLD.(A)
March 27, 2003... Interpol seeks Peru's Fujimori Interpol called for the arrest of ex-President Alberto Fujimori on charges of murder and kidnapping in Peru. He's in exile in Japan. Interpol can't force countries to arrest or extradite a suspect. But the...

TRENDS & INNOVATIONS.(A)
March 27, 2003... 35% of federal workers may quit That's how many in a government survey of 100,000 said they're thinking about leaving, even though 56% were very pleased with pay and 63% were happy with benefits. Critics of a White House plan to...

TRENDS & INNOVATIONS.(A)
March 27, 2003... ** Small, unnoticed strokes more than double the risk of Alzheimer's and other age-related dementia, says a study in the New England Journal of Medicine. Middle-aged people should exercise more, eat better and stop smoking. ** A...

Getting A Real Win-Win.(A)(IBD 10 SECRETS TO SUCCESS)
March 27, 2003... Byline: Cord Cooper 9Negotiating a win-win deal is both myth and reality. The myth lies in the either-or outcome: Either everyone wins evenly or there's a lopsided result. For experienced negotiators, two win-win realities exist:...

Copy This Man's Work Ethic Persevere: Kinko's creator Paul Orfalea sees opportunity, not obstacles.(A)
March 27, 2003... Byline: BRIAN DEAGON Paul Orfalea succeeds in life because he knows he's incompetent. Or so he likes to say. "I'm a horrible reader, not the least bit technical and was always in trouble in school," he said in a recent interview. ...

Electronics Retailer Reports Lower Earnings, Sales.(A)
March 27, 2003... Byline: FROM IBD NEWS SERVICES Electronics retailer Rex Stores Corp. (New America, Dec. 24, 2001) saw its shares fall slightly on Wednesday after it reported a slowdown in earnings and sales. The Dayton, Ohio-based firm, which...

DORAL FINANCIAL CORP. San Juan, Puerto Rico Bank Grows New York Business By Luring One Client At A Time.(A)
March 27, 2003... Byline: MARILYN MUCH One day this month, the owner of a small restaurant in the Bronx walked into the Park Avenue branch of Doral Bank, New York to ask about getting a loan. Rather than be routed to an account rep on the bank floor,...

Cable King Embracing High Definition Comcast Plans To Bring HDTV To Half Of Customers By Year-End, But Will They Want It?(A)
March 27, 2003... Byline: REINHARDT KRAUSE Comcast Corp., the nation's biggest cable TV company, is adding a new tune to its digital repertoire: high-definition TV channels. The picture quality of HDTV channels is five times better than that of older...

On Local TV Front, Cable Biz Has Edge.(A)
March 27, 2003... Byline: REINHARDT KRAUSE Fans of high-definition television can rejoice. National cable networks such as HBO, ESPN and Discovery are embracing the ultrasharp format. But it's still unclear how much local programming will be...

Dot-Com Veteran Cuban Bets On HDTV Content.(A)
March 27, 2003... Byline: REINHARDT KRAUSE Timing is one of Mark Cuban's fortes. He co-founded Internet firm Broadcast.com. Then he sold it to Yahoo Inc. for $5.7 billion in 1999, just before the dot-com crash. His 28% stake was worth roughly $2...

A Combined Cisco And Linksys Could Wield Some Clout.(A)
March 27, 2003... Byline: MIKE ANGELL There have been many interpretations of Cisco Systems Inc.'s recent decision to buy home networking gear firm Linksys Group for $500 million. Some say Cisco has moved into a low-profit consumer market. Others say...

Medical, Financial Groups Are Turning In Right Profit Numbers.(A)
March 27, 2003... Byline: GLORIA LAU Down economy or not, some industries have shown double-digit growth in recent years. Among the strong performers are medical companies and financial institutions. How do they do it? Aflac Inc., the financial...

Still Healthy And Smart In Tough Times.(A)
March 27, 2003... Byline: CHRISTINA WISE As the economy slogs through its painful two-year downturn, many of its formerly highflying firms have fallen. But amid the accounting scandals, layoffs and earnings warnings, a few companies have managed to...

Tough Test Divides Best From Rest.(A)
March 27, 2003... Byline: CHRISTINA WISE This year's Stable 70 list was gleaned from IBD's database of over 2,700 publicly held companies with share prices of 12 or higher. To make the cut, companies had to have a five-year earnings growth rate of...

Searching For Best Breakout Chances.(A)
March 27, 2003... Byline: KEN HOOVER Money managers love earnings stability. They're especially enamored of it in a long bear market, when the best they can hope for is a firm whose profit growth they can depend on. This bear market was so bad and...

These Steady Companies Veer Around Tech Wreck.(A)
March 27, 2003... Byline: KATHARINE STALTER Six tech stocks turned up on this year's Stable 70 list. The six winners are L-3 Communications Corp., Engineered Support Systems Inc., University of Phoenix Online, Affiliated Computer Services Inc., CACI...

Manager Sees Scales Tipping To Growth He Goes Whole Hog TCW Galileo Aggressive likes eBay and Yahoo, looks for strong earners.(A)
March 27, 2003... Byline: KEN HOOVER Doug Foreman's faith in his tech stocks has remained unshaken despite the worst bear market in a generation. And he thinks the names he holds in the $100 million TCW Galileo Aggressive Growth Fund are the survivors...

The Good Fight?(A)(EDITORIALS)
March 27, 2003... Iraq: Not that it wasn't expected, but Saddam Hussein's regime is using morally unacceptable combat tactics. That's quite a contrast to the coalition forces that are fighting the most decent war imaginable. While there is some sense of...

Pull The Plug.(A)(EDITORIALS)
March 27, 2003... Media: How wise is it to place reporters who work for an Arab TV station that takes the side of the enemy right next to our coalition troops? More than 500 reporters are embedded with our GIs. Two of them belong to al-Jazeera, the...

Why Was Anti-U.S. Soldier Sent To Fight Against Iraq?(A)
March 27, 2003... Byline: BRIAN MITCHELL The coincidence is a little too striking. First the D.C. sniper turns out to be an ex-Army sergeant named John Mohammad. Then the Army names Sgt. Asan Akbar as the man suspected of hurling hand-grenades at officers...

Stocks Decline On Glum Data, War Worries.(B)
March 27, 2003... Byline: CRAIG SHAW Blue chips stepped back Wednesday as gloomy economic data and murky news from Iraq stifled the market's advance. The Dow industrials lost 0.6%, the benchmark S&P 500 0.5%. But most leading stocks held their ground and...

Analyze, Profit From IBD's Market Charts.(B)
March 27, 2003... Analyzing the price and volume changes in the major market averages each day is essential to successful investing. They reveal major tops and bottoms in the stock market. Most stocks follow the general market's trend. They tend to rise...

Weight Control Firm Closes In On Peak.(B)
March 27, 2003... Byline: Craig Shaw Weight Watchers rocketed 17% in the two weeks ending Tuesday, climbing within 7% of its all-time high. But volume during that uptrend was lighter than you'd prefer. In addition, down weeks on above-average trade in the...

Nasdaq Edges Lower In Narrow Range-Trading.(B)
March 27, 2003... Byline: DAVID SAITO-CHUNG The Nasdaq edged down nearly 0.3% on lower trade Wednesday. Integra LifeSciences dived as much as 1.81 points intraday, but cut its loss to 0.71 at 22.86. The stock is building a long, deep base. Volume...

Vitamin Manufacturer Has Muscular Growth.(B)
March 27, 2003... Byline: D. Saito-Chung NBTY Inc. is at the top of a nearly yearlong base. Its Relative Strength line has been trending higher since mid-October. The maker of vitamins and nutritional supplements sells more than 1,000 products under...

Housing, Durables Show Weakness Ahead Of War; Weather Trims Home Sales; But durable goods orders don't enjoy that excuse; war, oil concerns blamed.(A)
March 27, 2003... Byline: JED GRAHAM New-home sales fell sharply last month to the slowest pace since August 2000, while a key gauge of capital spending fell for the third month in four. Winter storms in much of the country helped send home sales...

IBD'S TOP 10.(A)
March 27, 2003... Iraqi Columns Face Allied Forces 1Heavy fighting raged in south and central Iraq, and at least 15 Iraqi civilians died on a Baghdad street where an errant U.S. missile may have hit. Meanwhile, reports of a huge Iraqi convoy rolling south...

Fierce Fighting In Central Iraq, South; Iraqi Column Rolls Out Of Basra, Is Instantly Attacked By Allied Forces; U.S. Airborne In North, Too; President praises troops in visit to command post, meeting with Blair today.(A)
March 27, 2003... Byline: FROM IBD NEWS SERVICES Heavy fighting raged in south and central Iraq Wednesday and at least 15 Iraqi civilians were killed in a Baghdad street by what may have been an errant U.S. missile. At the same time, U.S. officials...

AFTER THE CLOSE.(TO THE POINT)
March 27, 2003... CAREER EDUCATION will buy Whitman Education for $230 mil. Whitman holders will get $6 cash and $8.25 in Career stock per Whitman share. SCHERING-PLOUGH, Teva Pharma and Geneva Pharma settled a patent dispute over Schering's ribaviran...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
March 27, 2003... BUSINESS PRACTICES Most pension plans underfunded So says consultant Watson Wyatt, which surveyed 419 companies. Only 37% of plans were fully funded in '02, down from 84% in '98. Many big firms such as GM and Ford are shelling out...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
March 27, 2003... ENERGY Shell to cut 4,000 jobs by 2006 Royal Dutch/Shell will cut costs by 15%-20% and ax exploration and production jobs worldwide, including more than 1,500 from affiliates and joint ventures. The oil giant aims to cut $500 mil-$800...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
March 27, 2003... RETAIL Sears credit card unit up for sale The department store chain said it may sell its $30 bil credit card portfolio so it can focus on its retailing business. The credit card business, which represents nearly two-thirds of Sears'...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
March 27, 2003... MEDIA 1,000 to face the music at Sony Or, rather, face unemployment lines. The Japanese media and electronics firm's music unit is expected to announce job cuts before its fiscal year ends March 31, a source said. The restructuring is...

IN BRIEF.(TO THE POINT)
March 27, 2003... As expected, Microsoft named Kevin Johnson, who was in charge of sales for the Americas, as the software giant's global sales chief. Earthlink launched a much faster dial-up service for $29 a month vs. the standard $21.95. It's aimed for Net...

TRENDS & INNOVATIONS.(TO THE POINT)
March 27, 2003... ** Small, unnoticed strokes more than double the risk of Alzheimer's and other age-related dementia, says a study in the New England Journal of Medicine. Middle-aged people should exercise more, eat better and stop smoking. ** A...

Copy This Man's Work Ethic; Persevere: Kinko's creator Paul Orfalea sees opportunity, not obstacles.(LEADERS & SUCCESS)
March 27, 2003... Byline: BRIAN DEAGON Paul Orfalea succeeds in life because he knows he's incompetent. Or so he likes to say. "I'm a horrible reader, not the least bit technical and was always in trouble in school," he said in a recent interview. ...

Electronics Retailer Reports Lower Earnings, Sales.(THE NEW AMERICA)(NEW AMERICA REVISITED)
March 27, 2003... Byline: FROM IBD NEWS SERVICES Electronics retailer Rex Stores Corp. (New America, Dec. 24, 2001) saw its shares fall slightly on Wednesday after it reported a slowdown in earnings and sales. The Dayton, Ohio-based firm, which operates...

DORAL FINANCIAL CORP. San Juan, Puerto Rico; Bank Grows New York Business By Luring One Client At A Time.(THE NEW AMERICA)
March 27, 2003... Byline: MARILYN MUCH One day this month, the owner of a small restaurant in the Bronx walked into the Park Avenue branch of Doral Bank, New York to ask about getting a loan. Rather than be routed to an account rep on the bank floor,...

Cable King Embracing High Definition; Comcast Plans To Bring HDTV To Half Of Customers By Year-End, But Will They Want It?(SERIES: TECH FOCUS HDTV)(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
March 27, 2003... Byline: REINHARDT KRAUSE Comcast Corp., the nation's biggest cable TV company, is adding a new tune to its digital repertoire: high-definition TV channels. The picture quality of HDTV channels is five times better than that of older...

Dot-Com Veteran Cuban Bets On HDTV Content.(SERIES: TECH FOCUS HDTV)(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)(Q & A)
March 27, 2003... Byline: REINHARDT KRAUSE Timing is one of Mark Cuban's fortes. He co-founded Internet firm Broadcast.com. Then he sold it to Yahoo Inc. for $5.7 billion in 1999, just before the dot-com crash. His 28% stake was worth roughly $2...

Medical, Financial Groups Are Turning In Right Profit Numbers; INDUSTRIES; Aflac, WellPoint reflect growth in sectors that just refuse to call in sick.(SERIES: THE STABLE SEVENTY)(IBD SPECIAL REPORT)
March 27, 2003... Byline: GLORIA LAU Down economy or not, some industries have shown double-digit growth in recent years. Among the strong performers are medical companies and financial institutions. How do they do it? Aflac Inc., the financial firm...

Still Healthy And Smart In Tough Times; THE QUALIFIERS; Education Management and Biomet make a list that reflects leadership.(SERIES: THE STABLE SEVENTY)(IBD SPECIAL REPORT)
March 27, 2003... Byline: CHRISTINA WISE As the economy slogs through its painful two-year downturn, many of its formerly highflying firms have fallen. But amid the accounting scandals, layoffs and earnings warnings, a few companies have managed to...

Searching For Best Breakout Chances; THE CHARTS; Starbucks, Apollo join a select few making the best of a difficult market.(SERIES: THE STABLE SEVENTY)(IBD SPECIAL REPORT)
March 27, 2003... Byline: KEN HOOVER Money managers love earnings stability. They're especially enamored of it in a long bear market, when the best they can hope for is a firm whose profit growth they can depend on. This bear market was so bad and...

These Steady Companies Veer Around Tech Wreck; STOCKS; Investors spot some lift in the sector, which has seen so many crashes.(SERIES: THE STABLE SEVENTY)(IBD SPECIAL REPORT)
March 27, 2003... Byline: KATHARINE STALTER Six tech stocks turned up on this year's Stable 70 list. The six winners are L-3 Communications Corp., Engineered Support Systems Inc., University of Phoenix Online, Affiliated Computer Services Inc., CACI...

The Stable Seventy Top profit producers sorted by five-year earnings stability rate, then by five-year earnings growth rate and finally by EPS Rating (data through Monday).(SERIES: THE STABLE SEVENTY)(IBD SPECIAL REPORT)
March 27, 2003... 11Patterson DentalPDCO123251992221819Frechette, Peter L.19821982 23WalgreenWAG118151390161317Bernauer, David W.20021967 34BiometBMET117152292161620Miller, Dane A.19771977 45Jacobs Engineering GroupJEC117141588151915Watson, Noel...

Manager Sees Scales Tipping To Growth; He Goes Whole Hog; TCW Galileo Aggressive likes eBay and Yahoo, looks for strong earners.(MUTUAL FUNDS)(MUTUAL FUND PROFILE)
March 27, 2003... Byline: KEN HOOVER Doug Foreman's faith in his tech stocks has remained unshaken despite the worst bear market in a generation. And he thinks the names he holds in the $100 million TCW Galileo Aggressive Growth Fund are the survivors...

BATTLE LINES.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)
March 27, 2003... Cruise Missiles Hit Civilian Areas Two cruise missiles struck a residential area in Baghdad, killing 14 people, Iraqi defense officials said. It was the worst single reported instance of civilian deaths since the U.S. bombing campaign...

THE REAL MOST ACTIVE Stocks Decline On Glum Data, War Worries.(MAKING MONEY)
March 27, 2003... Byline: CRAIG SHAW Blue chips stepped back Wednesday as gloomy economic data and murky news from Iraq stifled the market's advance. The Dow industrials lost 0.6%, the benchmark S&P 500 0.5%. But most leading stocks held their ground and...

Weight Control Firm Closes In On Peak.(B)(NYSE STOCKS IN THE NEWS)
March 27, 2003... Byline: Craig Shaw Weight Watchers rocketed 17% in the two weeks ending Tuesday, climbing within 7% of its all-time high. But volume during that uptrend was lighter than you'd prefer. In addition, down weeks on above-average trade in the...

THE REAL MOST ACTIVE Nasdaq Edges Lower In Narrow Range-Trading.(B)
March 27, 2003... Byline: DAVID SAITO-CHUNG The Nasdaq edged down nearly 0.3% on lower trade Wednesday. Integra LifeSciences dived as much as 1.81 points intraday, but cut its loss to 0.71 at 22.86. The stock is building a long, deep base. Volume surged...

Vitamin Manufacturer Has Muscular Growth.(B)(NASDAQ STOCKS IN THE NEWS)
March 27, 2003... Byline: David Saito-Chung NBTY Inc. is at the top of a nearly yearlong base. Its Relative Strength line has been trending higher since mid-October. The maker of vitamins and nutritional supplements sells more than 1,000 products under...