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Four analysts and top management from sixty-one sector firms examine the Roth Capital Partners 14th Annual Growth Stock Conference in this special 222-page issue from The Wall Street Transcript, available at (212/952-7433) or http://www.twst.com/info/info493.htm

TWST: How do you define the consumer stocks universe that you cover?

Mr. Brenner: I define it liberally to include packaged goods consumer companies such as foods and beverages, restaurant stocks, as well as suppliers to consumer companies, which potentially covers a wide range of products and technologies.

TWST: What are they encountering as far as trends or issues? What’s being carried over from the economic downturn and from the past 12 months as you look at the next 12 months?

Mr. Brenner: It obviously varies, because it’s a broad group. For restaurant companies, depending on how they’re positioned, it’s a question of whether people are still dining out and being entertained as much as they had been previously, or whether they are spending less when they do go out, so the value proposition is extremely important. For packaged foods companies there is little or no impact other than that they benefit somewhat as people are traveling less frequently and perhaps dining out less frequently as well, so more meals are being prepared at home. For those companies that are more sensitive to GDP or capital spending, the short-term outlook remains uncertain.

TWST: How have the valuations of those groups fared over the past 12 months? How have they set the table for the next 12 months as far as valuation levels?

Mr. Brenner: Consumer stocks, by and large, have done pretty well. As technology has fallen out of favor and people look for more stable growth areas, many of the consumer stocks have done well, big cap as well as small cap. The restaurant group in particular has been a strong performer over the past year.

TWST: Any questions about being richly valued at this point and if there is another little downtick or uptick, how they might fare?

Mr. Brenner: When we’re dealing with smaller cap issues, as we are now, it’s difficult to paint them with the same brush as you would paint a whole group. The bottom-up approach is much more appropriate because many of the smaller cap stocks are in transition in terms of their industry position, geographic penetration, market share, or other important dynamics. I really don’t spend a lot of time looking at that top-down view. I look at what companies are doing, what the variables are, industry trends, and what changes are taking place internally.

TWST: What is your outlook for CKE Restaurants? What draws you to it?

Mr. Brenner: CKE Restaurants (NYSE:CKR) is a company that I’ve followed for close to 20 years. It was flying high about four years ago and wound up in financial trouble following its acquisition of Hardee’s. The company is well along in the process of extricating itself from those difficulties and turning around. It is right on the verge of restoring profitability and there’s potentially some very attractive earnings power there. The stock has been a great stock in the past 12 months, and there’s still a good ways to go in our opinion.

TWST: For these companies, is this growth at a reasonable price or growth at a bargain basement price?

Mr. Brenner: I like to find stocks that offer good value and good growth opportunities. Certainly everyone would like to find stocks at reasonable prices that are going to grow fast.

TWST: Is it a case-by-case buy on dips strategy or is it a buy-and-hold situation?

Mr. Brenner: It depends. All of these stocks present buying opportunities, or there are news events that correlate with stock price movements in one direction or another. We try to look at the short term and identify catalysts for price movement. But we also keep the long-term point of view in mind as volatility occurs.

This special conference issue includes:

1) Outlook for Biotechnology - In an in-depth (3,100 words) Analyst Interview, Fariba F. Ghodsian, Managing Director and Director of Healthcare Research at Roth Capital Partners, examines the outlook for the sector and shares specific stock recommendations.

2) Outlook for Consumer Stocks - In an in-depth (2,900 words) Analyst Interview, Anton Brenner, Senior Vice President of Research at Roth Capital Partners, examines the outlook for the sector and shares specific stock recommendations.

3) Wireless Technology & Software - In an in-depth (2,200 words) Analyst Interview, Daniel B. Campbell II, Senior Vice President of Research at Roth Capital Partners, examines the outlook for the sector and shares specific stock recommendations.

4) Optical Networking & Optical Components - In an in-depth (3,100 words) Analyst Interview, David Kang, Research Analyst covering fiber optic communications groups at Roth Capital Partners, examines the outlook for the sector and shares specific stock recommendations.

5) CEO interviews (average 2,500 words). Top management of sixty-one sector firms examine the outlook for their firm and the sector.