Good for you. You should have joined me last Oct when I first told you about ISLE.
Listen to me Brother Markus.
siliconinvestor.com
>>8. Cymer
Boom. Bust.
Those two words could summarize San Diego-based Cymer's operations during the past twelve months.
Cymer is the leading maker of specialized "deep ultraviolet" lasers, a key component in photolithography equipment used to make semiconductors. Cymer's continual advances in laser technology have enabled chipmakers to "shrink" the micro-circuitry patterns on each semiconductor – and represents a key element in the industry's relentless drive for faster and more powerful processors.
Yet as a semiconductor equipment supplier, Cymer is prone to the ups and downs of the entire industry.
During the last three months of 2000, for example, Cymer enjoyed its best quarter ever. The company's fourth-quarter earnings more than doubled to 68 cents a share – soundly beating analysts' consensus estimate of 60 cents a share. Cymer's sales for the period grew by 31 percent, to $102 million.
"The fourth quarter was the best quarter we had in our history, and the year was the best year of our history," said Bill Angus, Cymer's chief financial officer.
Cymer's business was strong at the end of 2000, however, orders from semiconductor equipment makers were already weakening from the aftermath of the dot-com crash and telecommunications meltdown, Angus said.
Chipmakers were committed to taking delivery of lasers they had ordered a year in advance, Angus said. Since then, Cymer has retrenched as semiconductor equipment makers dramatically curtailed their orders.
In March the company cut 79 jobs, which represented about 9 percent of Cymer's global work force. Cymer also required its remaining 845 employees to take time off during a two-week shutdown this summer and imposed broad cutbacks in spending.
Cymer also started an extensive review of its business processes in a quest to further shave costs.
At the end of June, Cymer reported its second-quarter net income had dropped to $4.8 million, or 15 cents a share. That was about 67 percent below the same quarter a year ago, but the results were still better than anticipated.
That's the cyclical nature of the semiconductor business, Angus said.
He said, "2000 was a fabulous year for us and we were able to take advantage of it. But this year has been a real challenge." |
