Scott,
BROADCOM, CISCO, NVIDIA, SUN AMONG FIRST ADOPTERS OF AMD'S NEW HYPERTRANSPORT™ TECHNOLOGY
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Chipmakers Intel (INTC), Broadcom (BRCM) and Texas Instruments (TXN) were all downgraded this morning by a Credit Suisse First Boston analyst.
Charlie Glavin downgraded each of the stocks from a "buy" rating to a "hold," citing in part uncertainty about demand in the second half of the year.
All three stocks closed down today.
Glavin said he downgraded Intel, which reiterated its earlier revenue guidance on Monday, because he believes a substantial recovery in 2001 is unlikely. He lowered his price target on the stock to $33; it closed at $32.44 today.
He said margins for the chip giant could suffer as it moves to more Pentium 4 chips, which are more expensive to make than its Pentium IIIs. Margins could also diminish as the price war with rival Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) continues, he said.
"AMD's recent step up in the performance game, along with the growing number of supporting chipsets and motherboards have put Intel and AMD essentially neck-and-neck in the processor performance arena, diminishing Intel's traditional leverage," Glavin said in his downgrade report.
Further, Glavin said it appeared Intel lacked a clear catalyst to spur demand in the second half of 2001. |
