NEW YORK (MoneyView On-Line) - Semiconductor stocks are "clearly" undervalued, according to Banc of America Securities" Richard Whittington, who cited higher-than-anticipated unit growth, continuing tight supplies and increasing chip demand by internet-related companies.
"We believe that even we have been underestimating 2001 revenue, margins and earnings," Whittington said. "We will soon remedy this and move toward posting 2002 projections, which combined will clearly demonstrate how undervalued semiconductor stocks now are."
Amongst semiconductor issues Whittington rates a "strong buy" are Advanced Micro Devices Inc, Intel Corp, Micron Technology, National Semiconductor Corp and Texas Instruments Inc.
"The inability of capital equipment manufacturers to support customer requirements will extend tight supply-demand well into 2002 to 2003," he said, adding he believes that is the "shortest" period in which new capacity can come on line.
"Significant" shortages in the electronic component segment should "intensify" over the next year or two, he said, noting the equipment industry"s "failure to anticipate chip maker needs."
Internet-related chip growth is seen shortly driving 50 pct of chip demand, he said -- a view also expressed yesterday by Applied Materials Inc"s David Wang.
Existing capacity is insufficient to meet internet-related needs and the required conversion from 0.25-micron-and-above capacity to 0.18 and below will take 3-5 years, the analyst estimates.
He sees a "tight and even short" DRAM market for the next 18-24 months. AMD closed down 3-11/16 at 56-3/4, Intel lost 1-9/16 to 62 and Micron Technology declined 3-15/16 to 76-1/2. National Semiconductor edged 3/4 higher to 36-1/16 and Texas Instruments shed 1-3/16 to 59-3/8. " |
