Bank Technology Issues Join the Rise As Stock Market Tops 4,000, Level

Most bank technology stocks ended the week higher, joining the overall stock market that climbed in anticipation of another spurt of economic growth later this year.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finally broke the 4,000 level Thursday, as investors were heartened by Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan's comments that interest rates may finally be leveling off.

Shares of software developer Hogan Systems jumped considerably last week after brokerage firm Raymond James & Associates raised its rating of the firm to "buy" from "neutral."

Raymond James analyst Richard X. Bove said that after failing to meet earnings estimates in 1994 that caused him to downgrade the stock, Hogan is close to signing a number of contracts with banks over the next six months.

"The company has been on the verge of some big sales in the past and has not produced," Mr. Bove said, but he said he now thinks that after some long sales cycles, Hogan is close to selling $15 million in software in the near future, mainly driven by their credit card, profitability analysis, and branch automation software products.

Mr. Bove also said the stock at its current level is a good buy, trading at 1.4 times book value. "Most software companies trade at about 4 times book," he noted.

Hogan's common stock was trading at $6.375 a share at midday Friday, up 87.5 cents for the week.

Transaction Systems Architects Inc., a developer of electronic funds transfer software, successfully launched its initial public offering of stock on the NASDAQ market Friday.

The offering consisted of 2.75 million shares of common stock initially priced at $15 per share. The offering was made through a syndicate of underwriters led by Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Alex, Brown & Sons Inc.

Shares of Omaha, Neb.-based Transaction Systems were trading at $18 each at midday Friday.

Verifone Inc. said last week it had been selected as the sole supplier of point of sale terminal equipment as part of a massive payment-systems project for the U.S. Postal Service.

The project is headed by Nationsbank Corp. and merchant processor Nabanco, a unit of First Financial Management Corp. Redwood City, Calif.- based Verifone equipment designed to accept credit and debit cards will be installed in 33,000 post offices around the country over a two-year period, officials said. Verifone not did disclose the value of the contract.

Bank outsourcing company Affiliated Computer Systems Inc. said last week it had completed the acquisition of Total/1 Services Corp., a Houston, Texas-based processing company serving 65 credit unions in the Southwest. Dallas-based Affiliated Computer did not disclose financial terms of the deal.

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