DJ Novellus Sys Dn 10%; Sell-Off Not Seen As Specific To Co
Dow Jones News Service ~ October 12, 2000 ~ 3:18 pm EST
(MORE) DOW JONES NEWS 10-12-00
03:18 PM DJ Novellus Down-2: Decline Leaves Analysts Puzzled >NVLS By Donna Fuscaldo
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Shares of Novellus Systems Inc. (NVLS) fell 14% Thursday and analysts could not provide a specific reason why.
Eric Ross, an analyst at Thomas Weisel Partners said that he surveyed some on the buy side and they too could not find a specific reason for the stock's decline.
In fact, Ross said Novellus is poised to benefit from International Business Machines Corp.'s (IBM) plan to invest $5 billion over the next few years for semiconductor plants. Although no orders have been set, Ross said Novellus' standing as an IBM partner could help the company.
Gunnar Miller, an analyst at Goldman Sachs also said there was no specific reason for Thursday's decline. He did note that Novellus is a highly volatile stock.
Novellus is expected to report third-quarter earnings Monday. Analysts are expecting Novellus to post earnings of 62 cents a share on revenue of $372 million, according to First Call/Thomson Financial.
Shares of Novellus were recently trading down $5.75, or 13.8%, at $35.88, on volume of 10.2 million. Average daily volume is 4.6 million shares.
Eric Chen an analyst at Chase H&Q said that Novellus, has performed better compared with the rest of the group and that could be why its selling off. He too was perplexed by the drastic sell-off.
Officials at Novellus were not immediately available for comment.
-Donna Fuscaldo, Dow Jones Newswires, 201-938-5253
donna.fuscaldo@dowjones.com
(END) DOW JONES NEWS 10-12-00
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