On LRCX, it would depend when he received the bulk of the stock and whether he had to borrow in order to buy it. If the stock shares came from the exercise of options and he does not have the money then he needs to sell in order to realize the gain.
If he is a recently appointed CEO then the fact that he has only about 200,000 shares as a core holding is understandable. If he is a long time CEO then I would start to get worried. Keep in mind if he is about to retire, this might just be estate planning.
The point is you can't make a judgement in a vaccum. I don't know the company or the CEO well enough to give you an opinion. That is why it is important to listen to the conference calls. You can usually tell the straight shooters from the characters spouting cow paddies.
Let me ask you this. What segme nt does LRCX sell into?
We know the move to copper has been slower that expected.
On the other hand the move to bigger wafers has been relatively strong in comparison,. We also still do not see fab utilization rates above 70 percent. Till they get above this level and get pricing traction, then the need to spend on fab equipment will be muted.
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Chip gear orders show signs of health
Last modified: December 19, 2003, 10:26 AM PST
By Dinesh C. Sharma
Special to CNET News.com
Orders for chip equipment kept ahead of shipments in November with bookings worth $930 million, giving gear makers hope of an upturn next year.
The book-to-bill ratio, which represents a comparison between the average value of new equipment orders received and the average billing for finished products, rose to 1.04 in North America, according to data the Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) released Friday.
The group uses a three-month average to calculate the monthly figures for shipments and orders. A book-to-bill ratio of 1.04 means that $104 in new orders were received for every $100 of product billed.
The monthly ratio has been climbing steadily since July, when SETI reported a book-to-bill comparison figure of 0.90.
"The continued growth of bookings in November supports the optimism within the industry for a robust upturn in 2004," Stanley Myers, CEO of SEMI, said in a statement. "The year-end SEMI Consensus Forecast shows the world's major equipment manufacturers are projecting growth in 2004 of 39 percent, following a modest 8 percent growth this year."
The three-month average of global bookings in November was $930 million, a rise of 7 percent over $871 million, the revised total for October. Billings totaled $893 million, 3 percent higher than in the previous month.
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