Chip stocks launch comeback -->
By Chris Kraeuter, CBS.MarketWatch.com
Last Update: 1:24 PM ET May 31, 2001
NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- Following a three-day losing streak, chip stocks were on the rise Thursday.
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Intel (INTC: news, msgs, alerts) rose 2 percent on heavy volume. Shares traded at $27.13 in recent action, below a session high of $27.50. The shares closed Wednesday at $26.60, a five-week low.
The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index ($SOX: news, msgs, alerts) climbed 2.6 percent while the Nasdaq Composite rebounded 1.8 percent to 2,123. All of the major technology sectors were positive, led by software and Internet stocks.
The Comp ended Wednesday at less than 2,100 for the first time since May 15.
Within the semiconductor realm, Rambus (RMBS: news, msgs, alerts) , KLA-Tencor (KLAC: news, msgs, alerts) and LSI Logic (LSI: news, msgs, alerts) all tacked on at least 4 percent.
Xilinx and Altera
Xilinx (XLNX: news, msgs, alerts) fell 5 cents to $41.19 and Altera (ALTR: news, msgs, alerts) rose 5 percent after Merrill Lynch's Chris Danely lowered his estimates on the companies. Analyst Danely still sees order delays and expects this trend to continue.
In a report about the wireline semiconductor industry, Danely said this should be the last time he has to lower his estimates.
"We believe year-over-year growth will bottom during the September quarter for both Xilinx and Altera, with year-over-year peaks and troughs in growth rates generally marking peaks or bottoms in stock prices of these companies."
Novellus
Shares of Novellus Systems (NVLS: news, msgs, alerts) were up 1.5 percent ahead of a mid-quarter business update, which will come after Thursday's closing bell.
Based on current expectations, Novellus is expected to earn 39 cents a share on revenue of $357 million for the second quarter, according to a survey of analysts by First Call/Thomson Financial.
In the first quarter, Novellus reported net income of 62 cents a share on revenue of $458.7 million.
Chairman and Chief Executive Richard Hill said as recently as May 4 that the earliest that chip-equipment companies will see an uptick in demand is the fourth quarter of 2001.
Speaking at an investor conference, Hill said the current downturn in the semiconductor industry could run longer and be more extensive than previous downturns because the root cause is different.
Novellus shares traded up $1.16 to $47.66. |
