RE: AMAT
Snasraway,
I'm sure James will 'chip' in on the AMAT discussion.
Here's an article worth reading from Semiconductor Business News (not your average stop for news reading):
semibiznews.com
As we know, the company sells equipment - very, very expensive equipment to the chip makers. If you think in terms of the semiconductor cycle, they come 'alive' when things start to ramp up and this includes Applied Materials - the equipment maker. Many see the cycle lasting for a few years this time around as chip demand is very high and inventories are very low. A new type of wafer (12 inch) is going on line in the next 12 months and many of the chip companies need 300mm tools - very expensive 300mm tools. Drooling for those 300mm tools...
Here's a clip from the above link:
"We believe we will have facilities to support $12-to-13 billion worth of revenue for the company," said Applied's chief financial officer. "We will start planning to build the '$20 billion company' in the next six months."
At the current run rate, Applied's annual revenues are likely to exceed $9 billion in 2000 vs. about $5.6 billion in 1999, based on analysts estimates. In the fiscal second quarter, ended April 30, Applied's net sales were $2.19 billion, a sequential increase of 27% from $1.72 billion in the previous three-month period and 87% higher than $1.17 billion in the quarter last year. Bronson told analysts that the company now expects to have revenues of $2.6 billion to $2.7 billion in the current fiscal quarter.
With the type of growth that AMAT is experiencing, it is easy to see why James selected it as his most likely to double pick for the next 12 months.
No, I don't own shares in this company. However, I have been looking into it for one of my in-laws over the past few months. It doesn't have the average familiar ring of recognition to the average retail investor as say an Intel, Cisco, Microsoft or Qualcomm does.
BB |
