Report Card: Laura Conigliaro

Laura Conigliaro Goldman Sachs
	Report Card 2* Overall rank 4* Rank by institutions 6* Rank by stock picking Makes money for me Saves me from disaster Makes me think Tells the truth Meaningful service, not overkill Well-connected *Out of 22. Best star rating is 3 stars. Click here for our methodology.
2nd Place Computer Storage and Peripherals

Bio

B.A., Boston University; M.B.A., Fairleigh Dickinson University. Conigliaro joined Goldman Sachs in 1996 and covers enterprise hardware and technical software companies. Prior to that, she worked for 17 years as a computer and design automation analyst.

Industry Outlook and Style

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Conigliaro has been bullish on the storage and storage networking sectors for the last year. She sums up her outlook on the group by noting, "Bottom line, data has been exploding, content delivery is stimulating it even further, and many of the companies that are involved in this space should continue to do very, very well." She sees a variety of ways to make money in this segment of the market, citing trends such as the growth of server farms, distributed data and large servers and storage devices.

Conigliaro likes an array of companies that capitalize on several different aspects of the storage-networking phenomenon. Her favorite, Network Appliance(NTAP Quote), pioneered, and is the leader in, network-attached storage. The Goldman analyst observes that the company provides the storage system behind Yahoo! email.

In the high-end enterprise storage space, her top pick is EMC (EMC Quote). Another name she favors, StorageNetworks (STOR Quote) , has benefited from the growing trend for companies to outsource their storage needs.

Conigliaro also recommends switch company Brocade Communications(BRCD Quote). Brocade is a leader in its niche, which she describes as directing traffic between servers and storage devices.

The Goldman analyst believes that the growth in storage provides an opportunity for the computer hardware sector as well. She says companies like Sun Microsystems(SUNW Quote), IBM(IBM Quote) and Hewlett-Packard(HWP Quote) all have a strong vested interest in storage, and she expects them to expand into this market.

Stock Pick
Favorite stock for next 12 months:
Network Appliance
Comment:
"The whole group is so hot right now, but I'm picking Network Appliance because the industry that they are in [network-attached storage] is still young, formative and expansive, so there are more industry opportunities. They are the largest factor in that industry right now, so their growth, not surprisingly, has been accelerating."


Rate Their Stock Picks:

Which stock do you like best? Alexy and Conigliaro: Network Appliance Dean: EMC