Analysts Doubt AT&T;, NCR Merger in Offing : Technology: A published report said a combination was being considered.

American Telephone & Telegraph Co. is considering combining its computer business with NCR Corp. to boost its computer operations, according to a published report. But Wall Street analysts Thursday discounted the validity of the accounts and questioned the wisdom of such a deal.

Neither AT&T;, whose efforts to become a major presence in the computer business have faltered over the last six years, nor NCR, best known for its computerized cash registers, would comment on the possibility of a combination. An acquisition by AT&T; of NCR could be valued as high as $6 billion.

Analysts said rumors of the deal may have started because AT&T;, the world’s largest telephone company, has repeatedly evaluated the wisdom of taking over NCR as a way of winning a larger piece of the computer market. But they noted that over the years, AT&T; has also looked at acquisitions of other computer makers, including Unisys Corp. and Digital Equipment Corp., and done nothing.

Since entering the computer business in the mid-1980s, amid fanfare that it would soon rival giant International Business Machines, AT&T; has struggled and lost billions of dollars. That failure, analysts say, is largely because the company--steeped in the traditions of a monopoly operation--has been unable to keep pace with the rapid technological innovations in the computer industry. AT&T;’s computer operation, a $2-billion-a-year business, is still losing money, despite company promises that it would be profitable by this year.

However, analysts said, AT&T; doesn’t need to gain a stronger market presence through an acquisition. “AT&T; needs a better computer sales force into corporate America and a greater market presence outside the United States,” said Stephen K. Smith of Paine Webber in New York.

Added Ulrich Weil, a technology analyst in Washington: “AT&T; doesn’t need a multibillion (dollar) acquisition to gain access to computer manufacturing. AT&T; seems to me more likely to get out of the computer-making business than into it.”

Although discounting the possibility of an AT&T-NCR; merger, analysts said they could not rule out entirely some sort of deal between the two companies. One possibility, analysts said, is a manufacturing agreement under which NCR would make computers for AT&T;’s private label.