Mephisto,
Sam Duggan called me back today and confirmed that the most likely cause of the big sell-off yesterday was that large private stock swap that you mentioned. He had spoken to MEMC's specialists and they didn't know who the two parties were, so, naturally, neither did he.
The rest of the news is mixed. MEMC sold out its July run, but, due to product transitions, didn't sell-out for August. Sam didn't know what effect, if any, this will have on third quarter earnings estimates. He indicated that he'll have a clearer view late next week. I'll follow-up on this next Friday (9/13/96). Remember, though, MEMC has been forecasting a sequentially down quarter (from those great June numbers) all along, so this isn't really a surprise. Still, it's something we've got to watch.
Longer term, I'm sticking to my bullish view about wafer capacity being tight. But for September we've got to work through product transitions and start-up costs associated with the new Texas Fab.
Bob M. |
