connor, just having fun as i was about to post the previous as off topic...number one reason is great!
seriously, i have avoided any earnings plays as this has not been healthy,,,and with all the downgrades and market sentiment too skeptical, i just won't chance it. Valuation is back to earth, no doubt, however, market psychology has the chips out of favor even at these prices...and i'd love to see INTC and the rest take charge, but it ain't happening. Even with our two friends, klic and klac, I haven't touched.
maybe we can get another opinion.
October sales-growth news lifts stocks
By Janet Haney, CBS.MarketWatch.com
7:46 PM ET Dec 4, 2000
NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- A strong industry report about October
semiconductor sales gave chip issues a lift on Monday, just ahead of a sales
warning from Xilinx.
Stocks within the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index ($SOX: news, msgs) ,
which tracks 16 chip and chip equipment stocks, climbed 2.4 percent, having
shed some of its earlier gains.
Shares of programmable logic device maker Xilinx (XLNX: news, msgs) gained
$1.69 to $41.69 ahead of its December business update today. The San Jose,
Calif. company lowered its sequential sales growth forecast for the December
quarter to a range of 5 percent to 7 percent, down from the previous outlook of
12 percent. See full story.
The company added that November was a weak month due to soft bookings
from some of its North American customers, yet bookings from Europe, Japan,
and Southeast Asia remain are still on track for the December quarter.
Elsewhere in the sector, the Semiconductor Industry Association said sales for
October jumped 39 percent to $18.66 billion from the same period a year earlier.
"Sectors that continue to report record sales include flash, standard cells, analog,
microprocessors, and field programmable logic which are currently driving the
personal computer and consumer markets, along with the wired and wireless
communications revolution," George Scalise, president of the SIA, said in a
statement. Listen to audio link with SIA President George Scalise.
For the year 2000, the chip industry is on track to turn in annual growth rate of
37 percent, Scalise added.
Merrill Lynch analyst Joe Osha has projected an increase in semiconductor
billings of 40 percent year over year to $209 billion for 2000.
In October, the SIA reported that the Japanese chip market expanded by 47.4
percent, while Asia-Pacific business was up 35.2 percent.
"Overall, semiconductor device sales continued to moderate somewhat, due to
declining [average selling prices] and slow growth for [microprocessor units], as
well as some slowness in [digital signal processors]," Eric Ross, an analyst at
Thomas Weisel, wrote in a research note commenting on the industry's October
numbers.
Among chip equities, National Semiconductor shares (NSM:
news, msgs) added $1.75, or nearly 10 percent, to $19.75.
The Santa Clara, Calif.-based maker of analog, digital, and
mixed-signal chips is expected to report second-quarter
earnings on Thursday.
Texas Instruments (TXN: news, msgs) rose $1.81 to $39.63 and Micron
Technology (MU: news, msgs) shares gained 25 cents to $31.19.
For its part, Intel (INTC: news, msgs) stock hit a new 52-week intraday low of
$32.06 Monday, and eked out just above that at $32.94 at the close of trade.
SG Cowen started coverage on tech giant Motorola (MOT: news, msgs) with a
"buy" rating coupled with a price target of $41 a share. Shares of the company,
though, lost 19 cents to $18.38. |
