<< Novellus' midquarter update to color late tech trading>>
investors.com
<<By Shawn Langlois
Last Updated: 5/27/2004 3:13:00 PM
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS.MW) -- Novellus will likely draw attention to the chip-equipment group with its midquarter update amid a sparse Thursday evening schedule for corporate announcements.
With under an hour to go before the closing bell, the blue chip gauge outpaced techs as economic growth for the first quarter was revised upward and weekly jobless claims dipped. See Market Snapshot.
At last check, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had jumped 69 points, or 0.7 percent, to 10,179, while the Nasdaq Composite was up 3 points at 1,979.
Intel (INTC), Microsoft (MSFT) and Oracle (ORCL) topped the Nasdaq most actives, with all three issues bouncing around flat territory. They'll likely be joined with Lucent (LU) and Nortel (NT), the NYSE's top volume movers, on the after-hours most-active list.
Novellus (NVLS) is on tap to grab the extended-session spotlight after the company provides a glimpse into its current second-quarter during a conference call slated for 4:30 p.m. Eastern.
Last week, UBS urged caution in the chip-equipment group, cutting its rating on Novellus, Applied Materials (AMAT), ATMI (ATMI), Veeco Instruments (VECO) and Varian (VSEA) from "buy" to "neutral."
Analyst Byron Walker said near-term fundamentals for these companies remain positive and the current cycle is sustainable through at least 2004. But he warned that order and earnings momentum was slowing for the group.
Watch for the entire group to see at least a slight increase in investor attention, with a particular interest in leader Applied Materials, in the wake of Novellus' update.>> |
