DENVER - Quick, name the biggest, most recent news about Qwest Communications.

Billion-dollar debt refinancing? Stock price flirting with a 52-week high? Video service venture? Likely, it will be the federal indictment that accuses former Chief Executive Officer Joseph Nacchio of illegally selling off $101 million in stock.

While the aftermath of Qwest's multibillion-dollar accounting scandal lingers in the headlines, most investors are able to separate business and legal issues involving the company or its former executives, analysts say.

"Investors don't give a hoot about what's going on (with legal issues)," said Patrick Comack, a telecommunications analyst with Zachary Investment Research. "As a sideshow, it's kind of interesting, but this has pretty much played out in the investment community."

It's been nearly four years since the government began investigating the accounting practices at Qwest Communications International Inc., the primary local phone provider in 14 mostly Western states.

The Securities and Exchange Commission said Qwest improperly reported about $3 billion in revenue between April 1999 and March 2002, which facilitated its 2000 merger with U S West, a one-time regional Bell company.

Qwest was accused of repeatedly booking revenue from one-time sales of equipment and fiber-optic swaps while falsely claiming to investors the income was recurring. The Denver-based company later restated earnings from 2000 and 2001 to erase about $2.2 billion in revenue.

In the wake of the scandal, Qwest was hit with civil charges and shareholder lawsuits, and some former executives, including Nacchio, were named in both civil and criminal lawsuits.

The company has settled the SEC lawsuit and many shareholder lawsuits for a combined $650 million. Still pending are a handful of pension fund suits. Qwest previously set aside a $750 million reserve for legal purposes.

The headlines have been full of the scandal: Earlier this year, the SEC sued seven former executives, including Nacchio and former Chief Financial Officer Robin Szeliga, and accused them of orchestrating the fraud that led to the restated revenue. Three former executives pleaded guilty to some criminal wrongdoing, and a January trial is set for a fourth. Former Qwest sales executive Gregory Casey reached a settlement in the SEC case, agreeing to pay $2.1 million.

Then came Nacchio's indictment on 42 counts of insider trading. He has pleaded not guilty, and a pretrial conference is scheduled for January.

Qwest, meanwhile, has moved on since losing the bidding war for MCI Inc. earlier this year to Verizon Communications Inc. It has sold off its phone book directories and wireless division. It recently sold $1.2 billion of convertible bonds as part of a $3 billion refinancing plan.

Investors have welcomed the changes as Qwest's stock closed Friday at $5.67 a share on the New York Stock Exchange, near its 52-week high of $5.70. Its low in the past year was $5.57.

Still, the company has challenges. It lacks an independent wireless division, customers for traditional phone service are diminishing and competition for both wireless and Internet customers is growing.

Comack said he does not believe Qwest is able to compete for the mid- to large enterprise business against companies like Verizon and AT&T.

"I just think they're not very well-positioned for the long term," he said.

And the company will have to begin spending money as it invests in networks for video services.

"It will be interesting to see how they finesse that," Janco Partners telecommunications analyst Donna Jaegers said.

(On the Web: Qwest Communications International Inc.: www.qwest.com.)