Analysts

The manager of one of T. Rowe Price's top funds and two analysts have resigned, effective Friday. Kris H. Jenner, 51, has managed the T. Rowe Price Health Sciences Fund since 2000. The fund, with $5 billion in assets, gained nearly 32 percent last year. Along with Jenner, analysts G. Mark Bussard and Graham M. McPhail also tendered their resignations. "They are leaving to pursue other opportunities," Price spokesman Brian Lewbart said. "They didn't share what they are. " According to Bloomberg News, Jenner wrote to some of his contacts to say the trio were leaving to form a new venture, although they couldn't disclose their plans yet, partly because of regulatory and reporting requirements.

City Council President Bernard C. "Jack" Young plans to renew the contract of an independent budget analyst who last year helped to design an alternative proposal to Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's budget. Young will ask the city's Board of Estimates Wednesday to approve $21,000 for city retiree Larry Shapiro, who will advise Young and other council members on fiscal issues. Lester Davis, a spokesman for Young, said Shapiro was instrumental in developing an alternative budget proposal, which sought to keep fire companies and recreation centers from closing last year.

The thought crossed Shane Cockerille 's mind just about every Saturday in November. If the Gilman quarterback was just one year older, it would be him instead of linebacker Shawn Petty under center for Maryland. Cockerille was far from the only one who pictured himself taking snaps for the Terps after they lost C.J. Brown, Perry Hills, Devin Burns and Caleb Rowe to season-ending injuries. “Shane Cockerille isn't the tallest quarterback, but he's a gamer that comes from a great high school program,” said 247Sports.com analyst J.C. Shurburtt.

Daniel David Holtzman, a retired Social Security analyst and World War II veteran, died of a heart attack March 8 at Sinai Hospital. The Owings Mills resident was 92. Born in Baltimore, he was the son of Jacob Holtzman, a maker of straw and felt hats, and Matilda Holtzman, a homemaker. He grew up in West Baltimore on Bentalou Street and played at Easterwood Park. Family members said he played softball, baseball, basketball, tennis, and ran track and swam. In later life, he attended reunions of friends from Easterwood Park.

It can be worth knowing what securities analysts think about a stock, if only so you can do the opposite of what they recommend.And so active stock-pickers might be interested in Analyst Watch, a new publication from Zack's Investment Research. The company's business has been selling to brokers and institutional investors information about analysts' estimates of corporate earnings and analysts' recommendations on stocks.Stock prices often jump or fall in response to an analyst's buy or sell recommendation or when a company's profit exceeds or matches the forecasts of analysts.

Real estate investment trusts (REITs) fended off many analysts' predictions of a slowdown in 1994 by raising $13.3 billion, according to statistics compiled by the industry's trade group.The activity made it the industry's second-best year in its 32-year history. It followed a record $18.3 billion generated last year, when 40 initial public offerings were made.It "has been a great year, despite some of the grousing about REITs which has occurred over the past six months," said Mark O. Decker, president of the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts, the Washington-based trade organization.

WASHINGTON -- Although the Bush administration claims that budget savings from a sweeping package of unilateral nuclear arms cuts will be "significant" over the long run, outside analysts say actual savings will probably be much smaller than advertised.This will be especially true if Congress allows the military to redirect funds earmarked for the nuclear weapons canceled by President Bush last Friday to other strategic projects, among them the B-2 stealth bomber, several analysts said.Partial figures already released by the Pentagon, which show a potential long-term savings of about $20 billion, reflect a false assumption that the military would have bought all the mobile missiles and other weapons it wanted, said Steven Kosiak, senior analyst of the Defense Budget Project, a non-partisan research group.

The loss of inside linebacker Ray Lewis to a torn right triceps suffered in the fourth quarter of Sunday's 31-29 win against the Dallas Cowboys saps the Ravens of their leading tackler and emotional sparkplug. But according to a pair of NFL Network analysts, the defense should fare fine even without the 13-time Pro Bowler. Speaking on “Thursday Night Kickoff,” former St. Louis Rams running back Marshall Faulk pointed out that the unit hasn't been exactly suffocating through the first six games of the season and that was with Lewis in the starting lineup.

WASHINGTON -- Almost a quarter-century after the end of the draft, military analysts warn that the all-volunteer forces are becoming increasingly isolated from a civilian society that is less likely to share their experiences, values or concerns.Some observers, such as former Navy Secretary John F. Lehman Jr., suggest that the rift could eventually erode the nation's longtime civilian control over the military."They have become more and more separate, almost a military caste," Mr. Lehman said.

One of this weekend's AFC playoff games pits the Ravens against the Indianapolis Colts. There are many storylines linked to Sunday's contest including the history between Baltimore and Indianapolis, the inspiring story of Colts coach and former Ravens defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano, and the impending return of former Ravens like defensive end Cory Redding, free safety Tom Zbikowski and offensive lineman Joe Reitz. There's also the matter of the two quarterbacks, the Ravens' Joe Flacco and the Colts' Andrew Luck.

Frank Carulli, the Pimlico Race Course and Laurel Park handicapper and racing analyst since January 2002, will leave the Maryland Jockey Club when the Pimlico spring meet ends June 8. He will be relocating to Las Vegas. Next week at Laurel, the Maryland Jockey Club will have four guest handicappers vie for Carulli's on-air role as the Pimlico and Laurel television host: Ryan Fogelsonger, Dylan Smith, Jackie Savoye and Gabby Gaudet. Fogelsonger, 31, won 1,303 races as a jockey and captured eight riding titles at the Maryland tracks.

A hot topic among Ravens fans this week is this: how well will Ray Lewis do in his new role next fall as an ESPN talking head? According to reports, Lewis will appear on the network's "Monday Night Countdown," "Sunday NFL Countdown" and "SportsCenter" shows. But apparently some fans on sports talk radio and message boards are worried he'll come off either as too intense, too preachy or too rambling. Personally, I don't see that at all. Just as Lewis was the consummate pro for 17 seasons with the Ravens, preparing for every game with an astonishing attention to detail, he'll prepare the same way for life behind the microphone.

William Deal Waxter III, a retired securities analyst and World War II veteran, died of a stroke Feb. 11 at Broadmead Retirement Community. The former Roland Park resident was 88. Born in Baltimore and raised on Lombardy Place, he spent his summers at Ocean City 's Plimhimmon Hotel, a landmark founded in 1894 by his great-grandmother, Rosalie Tilghman Shreve, on Second Street at the Boardwalk. Family members said that as a teenager he ran the hotel's switchboard and began a lifelong interest in communications.

NFL teams already have their stopwatches poised to time draft prospects at the annual scouting combine that begins Wednesday in Indianapolis. Should Notre Dame inside linebacker Manti Te'o or Georgia inside linebacker Alec Ogletree plummet to the Ravens' 32nd overall draft pick of the first round in late April, NFL Network draft analyst Mike Mayock thinks the Super Bowl champions would bolt into a speedy 40-yard dash to select either coveted defender....

ESPN analyst Paul Carcaterra will provide color commentary during Saturday's game involving Michigan at No. 5 Johns Hopkins. The former Syracuse All-American midfielder, who can be followed on Twitter via @paulcarcaterra, discussed the most surprising result of the weekend, his most impressive team of the season thus far and the upcoming rematch between No. 3 Maryland and No. 1 Loyola. Any surprising results from this past weekend? The most surprising results for the weekend was [No. 14]

Gay characters coming out in prime time is nothing new. In fact, “Coming-out narratives are cliches,” according to Ron Becker, author of “Gay TV and Straight America” (Rutgers University Press, 2006). “They were big in the 1970s and '80s, but even by the 1990s, it was almost a cliché on television,” the Miami University professor says. But a quarterback on a pro football team coming out in the locker room to his teammates, “There's some real potential for drama in that context,” Becker says.

To hear Louis Lowenstein tell it, securities analysts are shortsighted to the point of being myopic, always focusing on today's profits, encouraging rapid trading and too often failing to stick by their guns when they know an investment makes sense for the long term.It may have been a case of biting the hand that feeds you, but the roomful of Baltimore security analysts that paid for Mr. Lowenstein's trip to Baltimore was nonetheless receptive to his criticisms at the Stouffer Harborplace Renaissance Hotel yesterday.

David Takata kicks himself now for missing the sign. The investment analyst traveled from Los Angeles to Laurel a year ago to visit the former chief financial officer of PSINet Inc. to learn, among other things, why he'd left. Takata was satisfied with the executive's explanation that he wanted to move on to build an Internet start-up. But he should have seen it as the beginning of the end for the company that paid millions to have its name on the Baltimore Ravens football stadium but is now on the brink of Chapter 11 bankruptcy, he said.

The manager of one of T. Rowe Price's top funds and two analysts have resigned, effective Friday. Kris H. Jenner, 51, has managed the T. Rowe Price Health Sciences Fund since 2000. The fund, with $5 billion in assets, gained nearly 32 percent last year. Along with Jenner, analysts G. Mark Bussard and Graham M. McPhail also tendered their resignations. "They are leaving to pursue other opportunities," Price spokesman Brian Lewbart said. "They didn't share what they are. " According to Bloomberg News, Jenner wrote to some of his contacts to say the trio were leaving to form a new venture, although they couldn't disclose their plans yet, partly because of regulatory and reporting requirements.

Jennifer N. Conyers, a Baltimore City Health Department research analyst who enjoyed making jewelry and photography, was found slain Friday in her Northwest Baltimore home. She was 32. Ms. Conyers' body was discovered in the basement of her home in the 5700 block of Highgate Drive by city firefighters. Jennifer Nicole Conyers, the daughter of Harry Anthony Conyers, a Baltimore Detention Center case manager, and Alverta Elzine Moore Conyers, a retired Baltimore Sun copy editor, was born in Baltimore and raised on Key Avenue in Mount Washington.