marketwatch.com
Sneak peeks, upbeat forecasts
By CBS.MarketWatch.com
Last Update: 7:03 PM ET Sept. 24, 2002
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS.MW) -- Despite the market downturn and worries about Iraq, more than 1,100 institutional investors are at Banc of America Securities' 32nd annual investment conference this week. While the conference ended abruptly last year because of the terrorist attacks, the number of investors and analysts in attendance is up 6 percent from two years ago.
Following are highlights from some of the 200 companies presenting at the conference:
Tuesday presentations: Motorola on track
Motorola CFO David Devonshire said Wall Street's current 2003 average earnings estimate of 45 cents a share excluding charges is achievable. Devonshire, who took over finances at Motorola (MOT: news, chart, profile) less than six months ago, also reaffirmed the company's third and fourth quarter financial targets. Motorola's third quarter ends on Saturday.
Broadcom's new chips
Broadcom's CFO Bill Ruehle talked about developing broadband communications chips for five new markets. Broadcom (BRCM: news, chart, profile) currently gets 90 percent of its revenue from chips used in enterprise networks, cable set top boxes, cable modems, and servers. The other ten percent comes from chips for digital broadcasting satellite, gigabit, wireless LAN and bluetooth, DSL, and broadband processors. Bill said he didn't know specifically how large a percentage these markets could be for the company, but that the percentage of overall revenue should double next year.
KLA-Tencor says sales have to come back
The CEO of chip-equipment maker KLA Tencor (KLAC: news, chart, profile) said a current slowdown in sales will have to turn around in the long term because chipmakers need his gear. He also discussed financial targets and future growth. See full story.
TI stands by targets
Texas Instruments (TXN: news, chart, profile) CFO Bill Ayelsworth reported no change in his company's financial targets. He also told investors why the company will not sell off its non-chipmaking businesses. See full story.
Philips waits for chip orders
Philips Electronics' (PHG: news, chart, profile) customers are not ordering chips far in advance, the company's senior vice president for investor relations told investors Monday. Alan Cathcart said many orders now come in with short deadlines. See full story.
Altera unveils new Cyclone chips
Altera (ALTR: news, chart, profile) introduced a new low-cost chip family Monday called Cyclone. CFO Nathan Sarkisian said he expects material revenue from the general-purpose programmable chip early next year. He also outlined additions to other chip lines and discussed the company's financial targets. See full story.
ALSO:
AMD cuts prices to make room for mobile chips
Tuesday September 24, 8:01 pm ET
SUNNYVALE, Calif., Sept 24 (Reuters) - Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE:AMD - News) on Tuesday cut prices on its microprocessors for laptop computers to make room for new, faster chips, as it seeks to build on its recently won momentum in that market.
AMD, which is Intel Corp.'s (NasdaqNM:INTC - News) principal rival in the design and manufacture of microprocessors, said that it had cut prices on its Athlon chips for laptops by as much as 35 percent.
AMD, based in Sunnyvale, California, now charges $196 each in lots of 1,000 for its Athlon XP 1800+, down 35 percent from its previous price of $301, the company said on its Web site. A 1700+ Athlon laptop processor declined 18 percent to $169 from $205.
Earlier, AMD introduced its Athlon XP processors 2000+ and 1900+. They cost $345 and $239, respectively, each, in 1,000-unit quantities.
AMD said that both Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE:HPQ - News) and Fujitsu Siemens Computers are offering laptop computers using the Athlon chips immediately.
AMD, which typically cuts prices on older chips as it introduces new ones, now charges $169 for its mobile 1600+, down from $180, and $150 for its 1500+, down from $169. Other prices were not changed, according to AMD's Web site.
AMD has aggressively targeted the U.S. retail laptop market in the past year and has been seeking to build on its success there. AMD last week cited research from Gartner Dataquest showing that AMD's share of the laptop processor market doubled in the second quarter, to 12 percent. |
