Monday, May 6, 1996
THE MARKET MIDDAY

FOOL PLATE SPECIAL

Zenith Electronics (NYSE: ZE) continues to rise, up $2 5/8 to $18 3/8, on prospects for its cable modems. Last week the company announced a partnership with U.S. Robotics (NASDAQ: USRX) to begin selling cable modems with a telecommunications feedback loop, as well as developing a cable modem using off-the-shelf Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) routers and Microsoft's (NASDAQ: MSFT) Windows NT. The Zenith/US Robotics product would allow cable companies to deploy cable modems without waiting for their lines to be upgraded to support two-way communications. Users would get all of their data via the one-way cable line and simply respond back via the telephone. The traditional cable modem product, which would not enter beta testing until the end of the year, simply utilizes Cisco and Microsoft products in its design and competes head on with similar offerings from Motorola (NYSE: MOT) and Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HWP).

UPGRADES & DOWNGRADES

Universal Stainless (NSADAQ: USAP) belly-flopped $2 1/2 to $9 after the company revealed that it would only make $0.15 EPS in its next quarter due to "market volatility." Oppenheimer & Co. took the opportunity to drop the stock from "buy" to "market perform", and snipped fiscal '96 estimates to $0.85 EPS and fiscal '97 numbers to $1.60 EPS.

The fact that Dabney Resnik lowered its rating on AML Communications (NASDAQ:AMLJ) to "long-term attractive" from "long-term buy" based on the fact that it exceeded its $30 share target three days after the buy recommendation did not stop the stock, up $1 1/2 to $31 today.

Cygnus Inc. (NASDAQ: CYGN) got slammed for $2 11/16 to $18 1/4 by Hambrecht & Quist analyst Alex Zisson, who downgraded the stock to "hold" from "buy" after stating that the company had a "terrible track record of execution".

EARNINGS SURPRISES

Air-shipping firm Greenwich Air (NASDAQ: GASI) jumped $1 1/2 to $44 after the company blew through estimates of $0.32 EPS, reporting $0.36 EPS in its fiscal second quarter.

Core Industries (NYSE: CRI) surged $7/8 to $15 1/8 after President David Zimmer forecast compound growth of at least 15% per year over the next few. The company makes fluid control, measuring and test equipment for industry.

Not enough people were dialing up MovieFone (NASDAQ: MOFN) to check out what was playing at the theaters in the last quarter; the stock fell $1 13/16 to $4 3/4 after it lost $0.07 EPS in the last quarter compared to $0.08 EPS the year ago.

Theft-prevention device manufacturer Sensormatic Electronics (NYSE: SRM) got pounded for $1 1/8 to $19 1/2 when it announced a third-quarter operating loss, excluding charges, of $0.02 EPS compared to estimates of a $0.09 EPS profit.

Ethical drug developer Forest Labs (NYSE: FRX) got smashed this morning when it missed estimates of $0.52 EPS by two cents, forecasting lower earnings for the first two to three quarters of fiscal '97 as it expands its sales force. Shares dropped $3 3/8 to $42 3/8

ODDS & ENDS

Great Lakes Chemical Corp. (NYSE: GLK) set off a hostile bidding war for Nowsco Well Services (NASDAQ: NWSLF) over the weekend when it topped BJ Services (NYSE: BJS) for the oilfield equipment and service concern. Nowsco shares rose $1 13/16 to $23 7/16.

Specialty-chip manufacturer IMP Inc. (NASDAQ: IMPX) continued to push ahead, rising $2 to $21 1/4 on the prospects of sales for its "Zip chip", a device used to make Iomega's (NASDAQ: IOMG) Zip drive.

ENCAD Inc. (NASDAQ: ENCD) soared $1 1/2 to $37 1/4 after the printer manufacturer announced a 2-for-1 split, not more than six months after pre-announcing a poor third quarter made the stock plunge to $13 a share.

Shares of ValuJet (NASDAQ: VJET) continued to crash, down $2 1/4 to $18 3/8 after releasing news on Friday that its April load factor fell to 61.8% from 74.6% the year before.

Listed in the Wall Street Journal today as one of the stocks most talked about at the recent Hambrecht & Quist Technology conference, Arbor Software (NASDAQ: ARSW) fell $3 3/4 to $59 1/2 today.

Only two trading days after the stock surged on prospects for its sales to manufacturers of cable modems, Stanford Telecom (NASDAQ: STII) gave back $2 3/8 to $45.

NOTE:

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Selena Maranjian (MF Selena), another Fool

Transmitted: 5/06/96