Topic: How To Invest

Pat: I would appreciate your opinion on Riverbed Technology and ITC Holdings. As always, many thanks.

Article Excerpt

Riverbed Technology Inc., $37.26, symbol RVBD on Nasdaq (Shares outstanding: 73.5 million; Market cap: $2.7 billion, www.riverbed.com), is a leader in wide area network (WAN) optimization. As more workers move outside the office and computer users increasingly access remote datacenters, programs and data that were initially intended for local area networks (LAN) are being slowed down by WAN connections, which have less bandwidth capacity. Riverbed’s products aim to improve the performance of programs, and increase data transmission speed across networks, while lowering the need to add new hardware. Riverbed’s sales and profits are rising. Most important, it’s making sales to large, well-established customers in a range of industries. The stock trades at 24.5 times Riverbed’s forecast 2011 earnings of $1.52 a share. That’s not inexpensive, but the company’s growth prospects give it appeal in a competitive market. Riverbed is okay for aggressive investors to hold. A: ITC Holdings, $63.72, symbol ITC on New York (Shares outstanding: 50.7 million; Market cap: $3.2 billion, www.itctransco.com),…