Mr. Barry: At Bear, Stearns, I am responsible for a category called Small Companies. A broadly definable category, to be sure, but under a microscope, there are some common denominators that, in my case, would emphasize two distinct subgroups: industrial technology and security products & services. Curiously, in some instances, both are beginning to converge, especially since 9/11. There are clear technological characteristics and overtones surfacing as homeland security/protection begins to take shape.
TWST: Within the security space, what do you focus on?
Mr. Barry: Originally, my primary coverage in security products
and services involved four companies. Now there are three. Armor
Holdings (AH) is in this broad risk mitigation and protection
space, dealing with both products and services; Kroll Inc.
(KROL), which, following the spin off of O'Gara-Hess &
Eisenhardt, has reverted to a dedicated risk management
consultancy; and Checkpoint Systems (CKP), an electronic article
surveillance (EAS) solutions provider; then there was
Sensormatic, also EAS-driven, which was recently acquired by Tyco
International (TYC) to be consolidated into its
security/protection area. Tangential to this coverage, I believe,
is automatic identification or bar-coding, which I think will
increasingly become linked to security solutions functionality.
That space includes Symbol Technologies (SBL) and Zebra
Technologies (ZBRA). So while seemingly an eclectic group of
companies, they, in our view, have much in common.
Tickers included in this excerpt: AH, CKP, EAS, IDNX, KROL, SBL, TYC, VSNX, ZBRA
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