Market inches up amid mixed indicators

Frontline Solutions, July, 2004 by Margot Crabtree

The second month of Frontline Ticker's tracking of supply chain stocks yielded a rise in spite of a continued consumer confidence slide in the general economy. The slide reflected concern over rising oil prices and the war in Iraq. But the National Association of Purchasing Managers-Chicago announced that its Midwest business barometer reached 68.0, the highest reading since January 1988 (a figure greater than 50 indicates expansion). Separately, in a Commerce Department report, a key component gauging inflation came in weaker than expected, which led many to think that the Fed may raise interest rates modestly rather than aggressively.

As our session ended April 28, 2004, Frontline Ticker read 942.28, a gain of 38.21 points, or 4.23%. Advancing issues outweighed decliners 28 to 19.

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Hewlett-Packard authorized a $2 billion stock repurchase program, which the company will use to return cash to its shareholders and offset dilution of shares from employee stock options. HP closed at 21.24, a gain of 1.54 points, or 7.82%.

Zebra galloped ahead this session, adding 7.59 points (10.36%), to close at 80.88. The company's first quarter net income was $27.9 million, or $0.59 per share, up from $22.0 million, or $0.47 per share, in the same quarter last year. Zebra was our top dollar gainer this session.

Shares of Avery Dennison tanked this session; they lost 8.08% and closed at 59.04, after the company said it was among those targeted by the European Union for alleged anti-competitive practices in the Europe. Avery shed 5.19 points and was our top dollar loser.

Covansys said that it received notice from NASDAQ that it is out of compliance because of a late filing. The company stated that it would appeal the delisting procedures initiated by NASDAQ. As a result of the action, NASDAQ has changed the ticker symbol for Covansys from CVNS to CVNSE. Covansys lost 2.98 points, or 21.32%, and closed at 11.00.

Weekly updates of portions of the Frontline Ticker are available at www.frontlinetoday.com.

Margot Crabtree is an independent stock researcher at Trade Trends Inc., a financial information provider in Louisville, Colo. You can reach her at StockIndex@frontlinetoday.com.

Company Name   5/28/04                  Price    Change

Accenture Ltd.                          24.61     3.53%
Aether Systems Inc.                      3.41   -12.56%
AirGate PCS Inc.                        18.49    -3.35%
Avery Dennison Corp.                    59.04    -8.06%
Checkpoint Systems Inc.                 17.26     7.41%
Cisco Systems Inc.                      22.37     6.96%
Cognex Corp.                            33.02     3.64%
Covansys Corp.                          11.00   -21.32%
Descartes Systems Group Inc.             1.22   -44.04%
EMS Technologies Inc.                   21.81   -23.85%
Epic Data International Inc.             0.48   -25.00%
Fed Ex Corp.                            73.58     2.32%
Flextronics International Ltd.          17.56     9.27%
Hewlett-Packard Co.                     21.24     7.82%
Honeywell International Inc.            33.70    -2.54%
Intel Corp.                             28.55    10.96%
International Business Machines Corp.   88.59     0.48%
Kronos Inc.                             41.48    13.52%
Logility Inc.                            4.45    -9.92%
Manhattan Associates Inc.               28.60     6.07%
Manugistics Group Inc.                   4.45   -17.74%
Metrologic Instruments Inc.             14.82    -5.61%
3M Co. (High Jump)                      84.56    -2.22%
NCR Corp.                               48.24     7.94%
Oracle Corp.                            11.40     1.33%
Paragon Technologies Inc.               10.00    -1.48%
Paxar Corp.                             18.43    11.83%
Peak International Ltd.                  5.30   -17.91%
Peoplesoft Inc. (JD Edwards)            17.88     5.92%
Pitney Bowes Inc.                       44.33     1.33%
Printonix Inc.                          14.67     6.07%
Progress Software Corp.                 18.78    -8.43%
Proxim Corp.                             1.33    -5.67%
Psion Canada Inc. (Psion Teklogix)       1.53    -7.27%
SAMSys Technologies Inc.                 2.88    -4.00%
SAP AG                                  40.40     8.37%
Siebek Systems Inc.                     10.82     5.15%
Siemens AG                              70.80    -0.81%
Symbol Technologies Inc.                14.73    22.75%
Texas Instruments Inc.                  26.11     4.02%
TIBCO Software Inc.                      8.30    10.67%
Tyco International Ltd.                 30.79    12.17%
United Parcel Service Inc.              71.72     2.24%
Unova Inc. (Intermec)                   17.35    -0.86%
Verisign Inc.                           18.14    11.91%
ViryNet Ltd.                             4.74     1.72%
Zebra Technologies Corp.                80.66    10.36%

See the complete Ticker chart online at www.frontlinetoday.com