BOLLENBACH ENERGIZES HILTON STOCK.

Byline: James Sterngold The New York Times

Executives like to think they make a difference at a company, but few have had the impact of Stephen Bollenbach. Since it was announced a week ago Friday that Bollenbach was leaving Walt Disney Co., where he was chief financial officer, to become chief executive of Hilton Hotels Corp., Hilton stock has soared $16, or 21.7 percent, to $89.875.

Not bad, but the question is what he will do now, and whether the stock has run out of steam.

For years Hilton, the country's sixth-largest hotel concern, has been regarded as a solid if slightly less than dazzling company. Analysts say it has a superb collection of hotels, including the Waldorf-Astoria in New York, and some first-rate gambling casinos, led by the Flamingo in Las Vegas, Nev. But mostly what it seems to have, the analysts say, is underused assets and a lack of direction.

For instance, some analysts complain that the company ought to have used the respected Waldorf-Astoria name atop more luxury hotels.

"We have long believed that Hilton represents a tremendous storehouse of unrealized value," W. Bruce Turner of Salomon Brothers wrote in a recent report. He added that investors had little confidence in "management's desire to unleash the true potential of this value reservoir."

Twice in recent years, the company's chairman, Barron Hilton, 68, the son of the chain's founder and the largest shareholder, with control over one-third of the stock, has indicated he is planning to separate the hotel and gambling operations. But each time Hilton was close to a spinoff he backed away, most recently in January.

Spinoffs are still a craze, however. Currently, the Hilton gambling casinos provide about 45 percent of the company's operating income and the hotels the rest. Such a spinoff of the casinos could give the hotel stock a big push because hotel companies tend to trade at a higher rate relative to their earnings than casinos, analysts say.

Well-regarded executives like Bollenbach have come and gone before at Hilton. But investors appear to be betting that this time it will be different - although there are some skeptics.

Bollenbach has an impressive record of reshaping companies and wringing great value out of their assets. He restructured the Holiday Inns chain and split apart Marriott, both hotel concerns.