Nasdaq Stocks

Are you afraid to buy stocks in the roller-coaster Nasdaq index? Look closely and you may find some values. "The Nasdaq index sells at 80 times estimated year 2000 earnings," says Forbes, April 17, "but some of its stocks sell for a tenth of that." The article includes, under "Wall Street's Outcasts": Burlington Coat Factory Warehouse (apparel stores), Detroit Diesel Corp. (auto parts), Haggar Corp. (apparel), and Neiman Marcus Group (department stores). These sell for less than 10 times estimated 2000 earnings.

HealthCare Financial Partners Inc. of Chevy Chase said yesterday that it will shift from the Nasdaq to the New York Stock Exchange to reduce the volatility of its stock.The company expects to begin trading on the NYSE under the ticker symbol HCF on Dec. 31."We believe that listing our shares on the New York Stock Exchange will provide for efficient execution of orders, and offer the potential for less intra-day volatility in the price of our stock," said John Delaney, chairman and chief executive of HealthCare Financial.

WASHINGTON -- The Nasdaq Stock Market Inc. is creating a new security that will let people invest in an index of the top 100 Nasdaq nonfinancial stocks.The second-largest U.S. stock market filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to sell shares in a unit investment trust called Nasdaq Gold.The shares will track the performance of the Nasdaq 100, an index that has generated higher returns over the past five years than the better-known Standard & Poor's 500.By purchasing Nasdaq Gold, investors will simultaneously receive stakes in the largest and most actively traded Nasdaq companies, including Microsoft Corp.

Investors who trade stocks listed on the Nasdaq stock market could save millions of dollars a year under new rules that are designed to help small investors get the best prices possible for the shares they buy and sell.Already, the National Association of Securities Dealers Inc., the parent of the Nasdaq, is seeing narrower spreads among 50 stocks that began trading under the new rules Jan. 20.The 50 stocks, which include companies such as Microsoft Corp., Intel Corp. and Amgen Inc., have experienced on average a 33 percent reduction in the spread -- the difference between a dealer's buy and sell price that approximates his profit -- from 36 to 24 cents, in the first 10 days of trading, according to the Washington-based NASD.

The Securities and Exchange Commission agreed yesterday to delay by a few months some parts of its new order-handling rules that are aimed at revamping the Nasdaq stock market. But it did not change any major parts of the rules.The rules, to be phased in starting Jan. 10, are intended to help investors get better prices on trades. Although the rules are aimed primarily at Nasdaq, they apply to all markets.The rules call for quotes in so-called electronic markets, such as Instinet, to be posted on Nasdaq if those quotes are better than the ones available on Nasdaq; the SEC did not change that provision.

NEW YORK -- Daniel Leonard, who manages a technology fund at Invesco Trust Co., is playing it safe these days, focusing on established stocks.Leonard said he is moving "away from the Nasdaq for the moment," preferring to look "at the New York Stock Exchange, larger-cap stocks, where we feel the earnings are more predictable."A cautious strategy is crucial. "Because 1995 was such a great year, in terms of earnings growth," said the 21-year veteran of Invesco, "it's going to be very difficult to duplicate that."

The price-fixing charges that have been leveled against the brokerages that trade Nasdaq stocks amount to a matter of nickels and dimes.But in a market that trades an average of 240 million shares of stock a day, that change adds up.That's why some of Wall Street's largest brokerage firms -- and some closer to home, namely Alex. Brown & Sons Inc. and Legg Mason Wood Walker Inc. -- are defendants in a series of lawsuits that accuse them of conspiring to profit by withholding those nickels and dimes from their customers, particularly individual retail investors.

Alex. Brown & Sons Inc., Legg Mason Wood Walker Inc. and nearly two dozen other Wall Street brokerage firms are accused in a series of federal lawsuits of conspiring to raise prices and lower profits for retail customers who trade securities on the Nasdaq system.The suits charge the investment firms with a variety of actions intended to fix prices for securities on the Rockville-based computerized trading system, originally known as the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation system.

NEW YORK -- The SEC released its long-awaited "Market 2000" report yesterday, a 450-page survey of the stock market that is less a blueprint for the future than a tune-up guide.The Securities and Exchange Commission's report, some of which is expected to result in new laws and regulations over the coming year, calls for few basic changes in how the major stock markets are run. Instead, it proposes a series of adjustments to make trading more open and fair.For most investors, the biggest change would be share prices quoted in increments as small as one-sixteenth of a dollar, or 6.25 cents.

NEW YORK -- Stocks closed mostly higher yesterday as takeover speculation in the media industry sent investors scrambling for cable-TV stocks. Enthusiasm for the cable issues offset a decline in utility issues and concern about weaker corporate earnings and potentially higher interest rates.The Dow Jones industrial average gained 10.06 points, to 3,603.19. Entertainment, media, publishing and electrical-equipment stocks led the advance after Bell Atlantic Corp. announced that it would buy Tele-Communications Inc. and Liberty Media Corp.