Netscape's Boom Worries Analysts

Netscape Communications Corp., the maker of popular software thatallows users to browse the Internet, sizzled on Wall Street lastweek. Its shares bolted up ; 2 1/2 times the offering price of $28a share in heavy trading Wednesday; on Nasdaq. The breathtakingdebut had some of Wall Street's bearish pundits howling. How, theyasked, can the stock market be healthy if a company with no earningscan immediately trade with a market capitalization of nearly $2billion? Overall, some analysts believe, the stock market's bigrally has run out of steam, and an absence of new leadership may bewhat sets off a long-awaited correction. LYNCH SAYS STAY PUT: Do you know what you'll do if the stock marketheads south? Smart investors should prepare for the inevitablecorrection "mostly by doing nothing," advised Peter Lynch, whopiloted the immensely profitable Fidelity Magellan Fund. In theSeptember issue of Worth magazine, Lynch urges investors who won'tneed their money for 20 years to use a sharp market decline to buystrong companies on sale. THE BOOK ON COLLEGE: High school graduates preparing to learn theropes in college have some help. Polly Berent, a Seymour, Ind.,parent, has created Getting Ready for College, a guide that drawsfrom the experiences of her son, Jonathan, a 1995 Stanford grad, andmore than a dozen other college students. The book is 36 pages of"tips and quips from students who've been there" - everything fromtransportation tips to advice about clothes, exercise, careerplanning and health care. The book is $6.95, plus $1 shipping, fromMoon Shadow Press, Box 37, Seymour, Ind. 47274. Other guides: GetReal: A Student's Guide to Money and Other Practical Matters, byJames Tenuto and Susan Schwartzwald, and How to Prepare for College,by Marjorie Eberts and Margaret Gisler. FUNERAL HOW-TO: Each year, Americans arrange more than 2 millionfunerals for family and friends. Too often, according to the FederalTrade Commission, funeral homes "fail to give consumers the pricelists and other information they're entitled to." The FTC's FuneralRule is designed to make it easier to compare funeral costs byrequiring funeral homes to give consumers a general price list. Thelist also discloses that a casket is not required for a cremationwithout a viewing and other information. For a copy of the free FTCbrochure, "Funerals: A Consumer Guide," write the FTC's PublicReference Branch, Room 130, 6th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue N.W.,Washington, D.C. 20580.

Gannett News Service