UMC (2303) closed @ 50.50 + 0.80 vol 28,068,326
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April 17 net purchase 1,764,000 shares
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TAIWAN WEIGHTED closed @ 5508.61 +76.66 (+1.41%)
Day's Range :5472.79 - 5523.72
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UMC Group's Mediatek IC designer to list on Taiwan Stock Exchange on June 26. Mediatek Inc., with market cap of greater than US$2bn, is Taiwan's leading DVD-Player Chipset and CD-ROM multimedia IC designer. The firm has global market shares of approximately 57% in CD-ROM ICs and 25% to 30% in DVD-Player and DVD-ROM ICs. The firm's R&D to sales has held at 4% over the past four years. More than 75% of its 280 employees work in R&D. Superior sales revenues generated per employee. The firm is 19% held by UMC.
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BUY Quality DRAM Shares on 2H01 and 1H02 prospects. DRAM maker Nanya Technology (2408 TT) expects to post NT$1.6bn pretax loss in 1Q01, for an EPS of negative NT$0.71, compared with NT$152mn pretax profits in 1Q00. Since we are bullish about the DRAM market in 2H01 and 1H02, we continue to recommend that investors BUY DRAM shares including Nanya Technology, Powerchip (5346 TT) and Winbond (2344 TT) despite this negative 1Q01 news.
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``Now is a good time to buy semiconductors,'' said Albert King, who manages the $250 million Taiwan Fund at China Securities Investment Corp. and holds TSMC and UMC shares. ``Earnings are at a trough and aren't expensive.''
TSMC trades at 15 times forecast 2001 earnings, and UMC trades at 11 times. In contrast, Taiwan's benchmark TWSE Index trades at 22 times forecast earnings.
Shares in the two chipmakers have lagged the index's performance this year, a pattern that will change in the next few months, analysts said. TSMC and UMC shares have risen 8 percent and 9 percent respectively this year, while the TWSE Index has gained 17 percent during the same period.
``There is more upside potential versus downside risk for UMC and TSMC'' shares, said Don Floyd, the head of Asian technology research at CLSA Global Emerging Markets in Taipei. |
