Semiconductor Equipment . . . Dupont Photomask warned that 4th quarter revenue is currently tracking to the low end of the range of previous guidance, or $80 million versus consensus $82.56 million. DPMI also announces that CEO/Chairman Peter S. Kirlin has resigned effective immediately. No reason given for the departure.
Semiconductors . . . RF Micro Device announced a $200 million convertible offering.
ATI Tech reported 3rd quarter earnings of $0.07 per share, $0.03 better than the consensus of $0.04. Revenues rose 28.5% year/year to $342.1 million versus the $307.7 million consensus. The company expects revenues in 4th quarter to be in the range of $335-$365 million versus estimates of $320 million.
ATI Tech was upgraded at Soundview to Outperform from Neutral and raised their target to $12 from $7. This is following the company's stronger than expected results; firm cites notebook strength, strong gross margin outlook, strong product mix, and diversification outside of the PC market and into consumer.
Advanced Micro was upgraded at Bear Stearns to Peer Perform from Underperform based on their belief that 2nd quarter weakness is now priced in. In addition, firm does not expect further delays in the launch of AMD's new 64-bit desktop processors, after which AMD's market share loss to INTC should reverse, and although AMD continues to burn cash they do not expect the co to face a liquidity crunch this year.
Chartered Semi was cut to Sell from Hold by Deutsche Bank Asia based on valuation.
Trident Microsystems video processor selected by Samsung to power 32" HDTV-ready LCD TV.
Motorola introduces new software modems based on Silicon Labs chipsets. The Motorola solution includes both PCI and AC-Link type modems that leverage Silicon Laboratories Si3052 (PCI) and Si3054 (AC-Link) silicon DAA chipsets.
Boxmakers . . . Dell rolled out three new Dell branded printers, an aggressively priced $89 all-in-one inkjet printer, a $99 color inkjet printer and a $999 monochrome laser printer. Dell now offers three consumer inkjet printers and four monochrome laser printers. Recall that Dell is OEM-ing the hardware and ink cartridges from Lexmark and is selling the products exclusively over the Internet and telephone (no retail distribution). Dell's new A920 all-in-one inkjet offers 4800 x 1200 color resolution and print speeds of 14 pages per minute (ppm) black and 8 ppm color. The all-in- one has print, copy and scan functionality and is competitively priced at $89. Dell's A940 all-in-one inkjet printer which debuted in late March for $139 is now listed at $129. Currently only Hewlett Packard and Lexmark offer sub-$100 all-in-one printers, HP's PSC 1210 at $99, Lexmark's X75 PrinTrio at $79 and Lexmark's X1150 PrinTrio at $99. The all-in-one inkjet printer market comprises approximately 40% of U.S. printer retail unit sales (retail data does not include Dell branded printers). Within the all-in-one segment, sub- $100 printer sales have skyrocketed from 10% of the all-in-one unit sales in early May to 30% in early June. Recall that when Lexmark announced its X75 all-in-one printer on June 2nd with a $79 list price, Hewlett Packard responded by lowering the price of its PSC 1210 from $149 to $99 on the same day. With the debut of the A920, Dell now has a competitive offering in this key sub-$100 all-in-one market. Yield rates on the A920 cartridges were not available, however, pricing on the A940 cartridges were in line with those of comparable Lexmark printers cartridges, suggesting that Dell is making good on its promise note to collapse consumables pricing and margins.
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