Symbol Technologies, Inc. is engaged in the design, manufacture marketing and servicing of scanner integrated mobile and wireless information management systems. For the fiscal year ended 12/31/00, revenues rose 27% to $1.45B.Net loss totaled $68.9M vs. an income of $116.4M. Revenues reflect increased sales of scanner products and scanner integrated application specific mobile computer systems. Earnings suffered from $273.5M in one-time charges.

March 13, 2001

Symbol Technologies' scanning products have become indispensable for a myriad number of industries, ranging from heavy manufacturing to retail package delivery. A 3:2 split was announced on February 27th when the stock was trading at $41.82. The split will be made payable on April 16th. SBL might resume its split run, now that the market appears to have put in a short-term bottom. The stock initially took off following the split announcement and peaked at $56.00 a few days later. After a subsequent pullback, SBL appears poised to move higher. The MACD survived a test yesterday and has now issued a buy signal. The RSI has plenty of room to support a rally before indicating an overbought condition. What's more, today's low print of $45.75 successfully tested trendline support. Any positive move tomorrow, accompanied by first hour trading volume over 200,000 shares, may provide possible entry opportunities.

Picked on March 13th @ $49.65
Change since picked +0.00
Stop Loss @ $45.25

March 20, 2001

A quick down spike on Monday knocked us out of this volatile stock. Curiously, SBL has enjoyed some good news the past couple of days; nevertheless, the stock has been unable to make any progress. Quite simply, technology stocks, even those with excellent growth pictures and increasing profits are failing to hold on to investors during this very jittery market.

Picked on March 13th @ $49.65
Profit/Loss -4.40 (9%) (Stopped Monday @ $45.25)
Best Profit +1.75 (4%)

March 18, 2001

SBL's technology has revolutionized the inventory process. SBL's product line has become nearly indispensable for customers who wish to maintain a competitive edge. When SBL closes its books on fiscal 2001, the company is expected to realize profits of $1.32/share. If these estimates are realized, SBL will have increased their profits by $0.40, or 43%, over fiscal year 2000's profits. Needless to say, SBL is one of the few technology companies that has both a solid profit forecast and earnings visibility. SBL announced a 3:2 split on February 27th that becomes payable on April 16th. We believe that SBL will outperform the market and could enjoy a nice split run when the market stabilizes and begins its inevitable bounce higher. Last week's trading range established support for SBL at $45.50 and resistance at $50.25. Potentially profitable trades could be entered if SBL stays above support at $45.50. Momentum traders may want to pick up SBL if it trades above $50.25 accompanied by midday volume of more than 250,000 shares. One technical indicator that portends a positive move is the RSI. This indicator is telling us that there is plenty of upside potential before the stock would be considered overbought.

Picked on March 13th @ $49.65
Change since picked -4.06
Stop Loss @ $45.25