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Five money managers examine portfolio management strategies in the latest Issue of The Wall Street Transcript available at (212/952-7433) or www.twst.com/info604.htm

TWST: Can you give us a brief overview of Steinberg Global Asset Management?

Mr. Mayer: Steinberg Global Asset Management recently celebrated its 10-year anniversary. We manage in excess of 250 million for a variety of clients. We maintain offices in Boston and in Boca Raton. We employ six portfolio managers and a full support staff.

TWST: And what is the investment philosophy?

Mr. Mayer: The investment philosophy of the firm is primarily large cap growth at a reasonable-price, or GARP. Our typical portfolio holds approximately 30 securities spread across broad industry sectors. We don’t try to mimic the sector weightings of the S&P 500, but we do monitor it closely. On the fixed income side, we mainly employ a laddered approach using both government and corporate bonds. The mix depends upon the client’s income needs and tax concerns.

TWST: Can you explain the investment decision-making process?

Mr. Mayer: I’m new to Steinberg Global. I’ve been with the firm for about four months. Rich Steinberg invited me to become part of Steinberg Global’s team to expand the firm’s analytical capabilities and add more depth to the process. The first style I focus on is Value Momentum. Of course, recently, value has been very much in favor. The second strategy that I employ is a GARP strategy. The final strategy is an earnings growth model, or Growth Momentum. Here, I’m really looking for high one-year sales and earnings growth, as well as high profit margin and high return on equity, and also the high relative strength of the stock. Several stocks recently qualify in that regard. One is Coca-Cola (KO), and the other is Anheuser-Busch (NYSE:BUD). Both of these, again, are seen as more defensive plays. They don’t specifically have very high earnings growth or sales rates but have demonstrated very consistent sales and earnings. They also have exposure to the international markets, which should help them as the dollar continues to weaken. We have a target reward price of 65 on both BUD and Coke. Let’s get back to BUD. We think sales will be about 3% to 4% higher next year. It should be reflected in roughly 2% higher worldwide beer shipments. Again, the overall growth here is not extremely high, but it is a very steady earner. Currently, in our view, BUD is cheap. It has a p/e multiple of about 22 on our 2002 earnings estimates. It has a superior growth profit profile and is very consistent. We also believe the summer months will be a very positive time for beverage-oriented stocks. We see the profit margins at 13.2% and sales growth of about 11%. So once again, it’s very profitable and a steady earner. More importantly, we want consistency of earnings; that’s our focus.

TWST: The companies that you mentioned are US multinationals. So to that extent they are global, but do you do any models on foreign stocks?

Mr. Mayer: Yes, I do. I actually have two different strategies on the international side. One is an index-based strategy. It covers about 50 international companies by market cap. I also run an international value momentum style. It includes international stocks that have low price to sales ratios and high relative strength. They are typically ADRs.

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