HEWLETT-PACKARD CO. $32 (New York symbol HPQ; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector, WSSF Rating: Above average) is starting to realize some of the benefits from its acquisition of Compaq Computer in May 2002.

Compaq greatly increased Hewlett’s exposure to the increasingly competitive personal computer market. Its main rival, Dell Inc., which sells its products directly to consumers over the …read more »

NORTEL NETWORKS CORP. $2.96 (Toronto symbol NT; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; SI Rating: Speculative) has completed a review of its accounting policies, and restated its results for the past three years. Most of the problems stemmed from the timing of revenue from some major contracts. The company’s former management improperly recognized some revenue to meet certain profit …read more »

APPLE COMPUTER INC. $62 (Nasdaq symbol AAPL; WSSF Rating: Extra risk) is fighting a proposed law in France aimed at spurring competition in the legal music downloading industry.

Right now, customers can only listen to songs downloaded from Apple’s iTunes online music store on Apple’s iPod music player. The new law would force Apple to re-program these files to play on …read more »

NVIDIA CORP. $57 (Nasdaq symbol NVDA; WSSF Rating: Average) has about 80% of the market for high-end graphic chips that make games and video signals appear more life-like and run smoother on computers and home video game consoles. This business supplies 70% of its revenue. But the company faces strong competition from chief rival ATI Technologies, as well as Intel, …read more »

MICROSOFT CORP. $27 (Nasdaq symbol MSFT; WSSF Rating: Above average) is the world’s largest software company. Its main products are the Windows operating system, which runs roughly 80% of the world’s computers, and the Office suite of business programs.

In the past few years, Microsoft has tried to cut its reliance on software, particularly in the face of free alternatives such …read more »

SYMANTEC CORP. $16 (Nasdaq symbol SYMC; WSSF Rating: Average) makes software that helps guard computers from viruses and electronic attacks. Its best-known product is Norton Anti-Virus, the world’s top selling anti-virus program.

In the past few years, Symantec has aggressively expanded its corporate services operations. Selling a variety of programs to businesses gives it steadier revenue streams than consumer software sales.

As …read more »

ADOBE SYSTEMS INC. $36 (Nasdaq symbol ADBE; WSSF Rating: Average) makes software that helps users create electronic documents. Its main product is Acrobat, which let users convert documents to the popular PDF format.

In December 2005, Adobe merged with Macromedia Inc. in an all-stock transaction valued at $3.4 billion. Macromedia’s main product is Flash, which lets Internet web page creators add …read more »

AUTODESK INC. $38 (Nasdaq symbol ADSK; WSSF Rating: Average) makes AutoCAD, the world’s top selling computer aided design program. About 4 million architects and engineers in over 100 countries use it to design and test new buildings and products. This business supplies nearly 90% of its revenue. The remainder comes from programs that filmmakers use to create special effects.

In its …read more »

Our recommendations in software stocks have delivered huge gains in the past few years. But many now face growing competition from free software on the Internet, or they trade at high p/e’s. Computer makers are also demanding lower prices for pre-installed programs to keep the costs of new computers down.

We still hold a high opinion of these top software makers, …read more »

ADVANCED MICRO DEVICES INC. $41 (New York symbol AMD; WSSF Rating: Extra risk) is the world’s second-largest maker of computer processor chips after Intel Corp. The company also makes flash memory chips through Spansion Inc., a joint venture with Japan’s Fujitsu Ltd. Flash chips retain data in mobile phones and other devices, even when a user turns off the power.

However, …read more »