He first bought the share just over two years ago, in August 1997, for 284p. Today it's around pounds 10."DCS has negative gearing, a return on capital employed of 93.7 per cent, expected earnings-per-share growth of 30.8 per cent for this year and 26.8 per cent for next year It's a well-managed company with long-term growth potential. It's my strong buy," declares John.Jack Murdoch is the archetypal patriotic Scot so it is not surprising that he selects Scottish Power as his share. When the shares made their debut on AIM in 1996 they were 125p.

Now they are over pounds 40.Several of my investor friends treat buying and selling shares as their main source of income so we can be sure that their selections are well considered propositions.John Mitson is a member of a number of successful investment clubs and carefully researches all his investments. It bridges the gap between commerce and new technology and its latest development is a working prototype of a "photonic switch" which enables data to be moved around the Internet instantly. The phenomenal increase in demand for capacity means that the CrossKeys business is escalating at an enormous rate.But a word of warning. The pressure on CrossKeys has been such that recently it lapsed into losses. However, management changes brought a sharper focus on sales and now analysts expect sales of over pounds 18 million for the current year ending 31 May 2000 and almost pounds 29 million in 2001.Another technology tip is BATM, a computer hardware company, which is becoming known as "the plumber of the Internet".

The company is quoted on the Easdaq exchange and the products it is involved with are the stuff that dreams are made of. They already have a service which translates foreign language telephone conversations instantly. But their aim is to produce computers you can talk to.A Nasdaq company, CrossKeys Systems, also caught my eye. It is Canadian company that supplies performance management software to more than 160 telecoms providers in 45 countries.

Investor interest in the floatation tends to support our view."Other professionals gave me their wonder stocks too. One that particularly intrigued me was Learnout & Hauspie, a Belgium-based leader in digital voice recognition. We believe that this business could dominate the entire Spanish-speaking world. "This company combines our enthusiasm for continental European equities with our belief that telecoms and Internet-related companies should continue to thrive," he says."Not only is the mobile phone business in Spain poorly developed at present, but we are attracted by the group's recent decision to spin off its Internet business, Terra Networks. BT has the technological edge and the operating experience."The joint venture with US operator AT&T provides a significant advantage to capture a major part of the corporate market. And a merger with AT&T to form the world's largest telecom company is a real and exciting possibility."Chris Ring, managing director of NatWest Stockbrokers, is a telecoms fan too but he looks to Europe for his tip He likes Telefonica, the Spanish telecoms giant. In his opinion British Telecom (BT) is becoming a global winner."Companies whose core competence is in electronics or communications suggest themselves as favoured investments for the next millennium.