(MONEY Magazine) – THIS MONTH: --Protect yourself from a blue-chip dip. --Small investors abandon utilities. --Why profits are up at the New York Times

This month, the MONEY 30 celebrates its first anniversary. Our index of 30 stocks for the next millennium returned a blistering 47% over the past 12 months, 82% above the Dow Jones industrial average, the benchmark for the old century.

We devised the MONEY 30 because we thought the Dow, laden with sluggish smokestack companies, was an outdated proxy for a stock market sparked by technology and service companies. Nine months later, the editors of the Wall Street Journal, who maintain the average, apparently reached the same conclusion. In March, they booted Bethlehem Steel, Texaco, Westinghouse Electric and Woolworth and replaced them with Wal-Mart and three members of the MONEY 30: Hewlett-Packard, Johnson & Johnson and Travelers. The Journal editors explained that changes were necessary to reflect the growing role of technology, health care and financial services in the economy. We couldn't have put it better ourselves.

Though the two indexes now have eight stocks in common, the MONEY 30 has more of the true drivers of the economy. Because the Dow consists only of New York Stock Exchange-listed companies, for example, it does not include Intel and Microsoft, both traded on Nasdaq. Yet these two MONEY 30 members figure to be the leading propellants of American industrial growth in the 21st century, just as U.S. Steel and General Motors were in the 20th.

To make it into the MONEY 30, a company had to clear some Olympic-caliber hurdles. To start, it had to have a market capitalization of $5 billion or more and annual revenues of at least $1 billion. These size parameters affirmed that it was a force to be reckoned with in its industry. By itself, big is not necessarily better, so our candidates also had to be rated B+ or higher for their financial strength by Value Line. This grade means that a company enjoyed above-average financial health as measured by debt-to-equity ratios, business risk and stock-price stability. (We made one exception to the B+ rule, but for a variety of reasons we decided to replace it with a more suitable stock, as explained in the box on page 63.) Finally, our pick's market capitalization had to have grown faster than the market itself in the past five years, and be expected to do the same in the next five. This yardstick measures the extent to which institutional and individual investors believe in the company.

The survivors of that screening process are rock-solid, long-term market leaders, which, as it happened, also outperformed in the short term. Not that we're complaining, mind you, but we weren't looking for a bunch of Hale-Bopps. So to reassure ourselves (and you) that our 21st-century picks won't streak across the sky and then disappear, we re-evaluated each one, cross-checking with more than 100 securities analysts. Their confirmation of our choices reinforces our belief that you should own all the MONEY 30 for long-term appreciation.

But don't go out and buy the lot today. Some, like McDonald's and Microsoft, are too expensive, despite their glowing prospects. Below we list six that analysts feel have the most potential over the next year, and where recent price dips offer you the chance to own the leaders of the next century at premillennial prices.

--AirTouch Communications (ticker symbol: ATI; recently traded on the New York Stock Exchange at $25.50; no yield). Last year, this Walnut Creek, Calif. cellular company increased its subscriber base 56% to 5 million customers. Already the largest provider of cellular-phone services in Europe, AirTouch also serves 3.4 million customers in the U.S., where it is trying to fashion a national cellular-phone network through acquisitions and joint ventures. Its pending purchase of U S West's mobile-phone business, for example, will make AirTouch second only to AT&T in number of cellular customers. Meanwhile, the company is also making investments with local cellular outfits overseas, a move that ABN AMRO Chicago Corp. analyst Kevin Roe sees as the key to sustaining annual subscriber growth of more than 50%.

Some analysts are concerned that AirTouch's rubber-burning growth could stall with the advent of PCS as the next generation of wireless-phone technology. But, says Gerard Klauer Mattison analyst Charles DiSanza: "Those fears are overblown; cellular has the power of incumbency on its side." He estimates that in 2000, there will be 93 million wireless-phone users in the U.S., and cellular providers will serve 82% of them. DiSanza sees new subscribers fueling earnings growth of more than 50% annually, which figures to push the stock to $40 within 12 months, for a 57% return.

--CUC International (CU; NYSE, $21; no yield). This $2.9 billion membership organization offers price discounts for home shopping, travel, automobiles, dining and more. For fees that range from $10 to $250 a year, members receive a card entitling them to discounts from affiliated merchants, restaurants and travel agencies. Next month, the Stamford, Conn. company's new Netmarket service will start wiring Internet shoppers. Alex. Brown analyst Christopher Feiss points out that CUC's familiarity with nonstore-based merchandising should help it adapt successfully to the Internet. "It is already running a store without walls," he says, "which is the next evolutionary step in retail."

The key to CUC's business is its gigantic roster of 66 million members, making it one of the largest discount consumer-service businesses in the nation. The annual fees from that huge base enable CUC to sell products for as much as 30% below manufacturers' suggested retail prices, resulting in satisfied customers and an impressive renewal rate of 70%. "Their core business is a money machine," says PaineWebber analyst Craig Bibb. He expects membership growth to result in earnings increases of 28% in the next year, pushing the stock to $31, for a 48% return.

--Cisco Systems (CSCO; Nasdaq, $51.75; no yield). As computer networks proliferate--especially that googolplex of networks known as the Internet--so do business opportunities for the $6.6 billion leading manufacturer of network equipment. On top of its dominant 58% share of the router (hardware that enables networks to communicate) market, Cisco is now the No. 1 or No. 2 company in seven of its eight major markets, says Edward Jones analyst David Powers. Many of these businesses, including remote-access and communications-switching products, are growing at more than 30% a year.

Cisco extends its reach through a combination of acquisition and innovation. Last year, the San Jose company paid $4 billion for StrataCom, the leading supplier of wide-area-network switching products, and catapulted itself into a leading position in that fast-growing market. As with all companies in a cutting-edge business, there is the risk that Cisco could be blindsided by a major technological shift. However, analysts think that unlikely, given the company's lavish R&D budget of more than $500 million. Says Morgan Stanley analyst George Kelly: "For the most part, Cisco drives technological change as opposed to responding to it." As a result, Powers thinks the company can boost earnings 35% annually over the next five years and expects the stock to hit $75 within a year, for a 45% return.

--Nike Inc. "B" shares (NKE; NYSE, $56.25; 0.7%). Just like Masters champ Tiger Woods, whose golfing duds sport Nike's famous swoosh trademark, this $9.1 billion outfitter leaves the competition way behind. Already the world's No. 1 maker of athletic footwear, the Beaverton, Ore. company became the world's leading manufacturer of sports apparel last year.

Nike sprints into new sports with brash marketing and quickly signs stars to endorsement contracts. For example, last year the company claimed the megastars of both golf and soccer by getting Woods and the World Cup champion Brazilian soccer team to wear its shoes and gear. "Golf is one of the fastest-growing recreational activities in the world," says Jennifer Black Groves, an analyst at Black & Co. in Portland, Ore., "and soccer is the most popular sport in the world." Garbing players in both sports is expected to contribute more than $150 million to Nike's sales by 1998. And Brett Barakett of Salomon Bros. says he is counting on explosive growth of 35% over the next 12 months in Nike's international sales to help deliver an overall earnings increase of 20%. He expects the stock to run all the way to $80 in 12 months, for a 43% return.

--Sun Microsystems (SUNW; Nasdaq, $28.75; no yield). On the surface, things don't look so good for this $8.6 billion maker of network-based computer systems, which allow multiple-computer users to share software and data. The Mountain View, Calif. company faces competitive pressure from Intel and Microsoft, whose Windows NT is muscling into the bread-and-butter area of Sun's low-end product line, which includes computer workstations. But analysts aren't worried: "We're not looking for Sun to set," says ABN AMRO Chicago Corp. analyst David Wu, who points out that the company has been moving away from the workstation market toward a sophisticated "enterprise" product line that bundles Sun's microprocessors and other products into a complete network. The enterprise line, which can be adapted for most general-purpose commercial networks, is far more profitable than selling low-end workstations alone.

And then there's Java, Sun's programming language, which is the de facto standard among Internet software developers. "It adds legitimacy to everything that Sun is doing, because as more software developers endorse and use it, the greater the eventual demand will be for Sun's hardware and software products," says Daniel Kunstler of J.P. Morgan. Wu, however, points out that Java hasn't yet brought much to the bottom line, although he agrees it will help hardware sales. He believes that the company's viselike grip on its important hardware markets will ensure earnings growth of nearly 25% over the next year, pushing the stock to $40, for a 39% return.

--Oracle (ORCL; Nasdaq, $39.75; no yield). This Redwood City, Calif. company creates software for database management, which allows companies to massage the information stored in their computers. Making out a payroll, scheduling deliveries, keeping track of inventory, you name it: You need database-management software to do it, which is why Oracle has revenues of $5.8 billion and counting.

Now the company is benefiting from another trend. As more businesses use the World Wide Web, the need for database software is rising dramatically. For example, Web bookseller Amazon.com, from whom you can order books electronically rather than fight your way in and out of Borders, needs databases to keep tabs on its customers' tastes. But Oracle doesn't rely on software sales alone. The company's service businesses, which include consulting and support, produce almost 50% of revenues. Dakin Securities analyst Ed Bierdeman expects the stock to exceed $50 within 12 months, for a 26% return. Why? European sales are recovering and, says Collins & Co. analyst Bruce Raabe, "This is a great company with great products that's way ahead of its competition." Sounds like a member of the MONEY 30.

ALL STOCK DATA AS OF MAY 1