Amerindo's Alberto Vilar Foresees Strong Year Ahead for Internet-Related Stocks; Sees Continued Momentum in Business-to-Business Sector

Business Wire, Dec 13, 1999

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 13, 1999--

Announces Addition of Akamai, Ask Jeeves, CMGI and

Internap Network Services to Amerindo's Portfolios

Alberto Vilar foresees that 2000 will be another "stellar year" for Internet stocks and the next most important Internet development will involve a major shift from business-to-consumer to business-to-business (B-to-B). Mr. Vilar is the president and founder of Amerindo Investment Advisors and manager of the $513 million Amerindo Technology Fund (ATCHX), which has soared more than 238% year-to-date.

Underscoring this prediction, Mr. Vilar announced that Amerindo recently added the following names to the firm's portfolios: Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ: AKAM), Ask Jeeves (NASDAQ: ASKJ), CMGI (NASDAQ: CMGI) and Internap Network Services (NASDAQ: INAP).

Speaking at a news briefing at the Four Seasons Hotel, Mr. Vilar stated, "Dominant business-to-consumer Internet companies such as Yahoo!, Amazon and eBay still have enormous upside potential, but over the next five years I expect that 80% of all shareholder wealth created from the Internet will be generated by the business-to-business sector. With the rapid growth in the number of Internet companies, however, the individual investor is going to find it increasingly difficult to pick the right B-to-B companies for their portfolios."

When asked what business-to-business companies he planned to buy, Mr. Vilar said, "Our portfolios will have three categories: infrastructure software, pure e-commerce players and telecom companies that will support business-to-business commerce." Amerindo already has built core positions in several top B-to-B companies such as Ariba, which provides software to manage operating resources; and Critical Path, an e-mail and unified messaging application services provider.

"During the next 12 to 24 months," Mr. Vilar said, "our portfolio is likely to become more than 80 percent business-to-business; however, our cost basis on some of our business-to-consumer holdings is so low that it would be wrong to sell them now when there is still more upside left in them.

"We predicted a correction for the technology sector last April followed by record-breaking highs in November and December, which is exactly what we are seeing. For 2000, we'll be looking at another strong year for Internet companies. At the same time, this still is a highly volatile sector and there will be large market swings in the year ahead.

"The Internet revolution is still in its infancy. We've created so far only about 15-20 percent of the $2-$3 trillion we believe will be generated in new market wealth over the next five years," he explained. "The Internet only started to reach critical mass in 1997 as more and more users came online, and our investments became more viable. At best, we're only in the second or third inning of a new ball game."

According to Lipper, the Amerindo Technology Fund Class D (ATCHX) is the number one performing U.S. Science and Technology fund year-to-date through November 30, 1999. Started in October 1996, its strategy is to focus on 15-20 emerging technology stocks. As of November 30, 1999, the Fund performed 195.4%; and 247.5% for the trailing 12-months. As of 9/30/99 the average annualized total return for the Class D shares for the twelve months ended 9/30/99 and since inception (10/28/96) was 253.78% and 49.34% respectively. Total net assets of the Fund on 10/31/99 were $269 million. The Fund recently received Morningstar's 5-Star overall rating.(TM)

Amerindo Investment Advisors Inc. pioneered in the early 1980s the management of emerging technology portfolios of electronic technology and healthcare stocks. A global company with approximately $5 billion under management, Amerindo is the premier emerging growth stock manager specializing in leading-edge technology and biotechnology companies and the nation's leader in Internet-related portfolio investments.

Morningstar proprietary ratings reflect historical risk-adjusted performance as of 10/31/99. The ratings are subject to change every month. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Morningstar ratings are calculated from the Fund's three-year average annual return in excess of the 90-day Treasury Bill returns with appropriate fee adjustments, and a risk factor that reflects fund performance below 90-day T-Bill returns. Amerindo Technology Fund received 5 stars for the three-year period. The top 10% of funds in a broad asset class receive 5 stars. The fund was rated among 3,272 Domestic Equity funds for the three-year period.

Past performance data quoted represents past performance and the investment return and principal value of an investment will fluctuate so that an investor's shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. The performance quoted herein may not be repeated. Technology stocks during this period experienced stronger gains than the market as a whole. This is a non-diversified fund and may invest a greater share of its assets in a particular issuer. There are specific risks inherent in investing in the technology and science areas, smaller capitalized companies, and foreign securities. The Fund had a heavy concentration in Amazon.com, eBay Inc. and Yahoo! Inc. during the one-year period ended 6/30/99. These issues presented approximately 23% of the Fund total.