Do you believe this?
I bet by January this sort of stuff will disappear and we will be told to buy technology and they will be upgraded... I know I have become very cynical lately.<g>
12:51 PM ET 12/02/97
RESEARCH ALERT - Merrill cuts chip makers' EPS
NEW YORK, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Merrill Lynch analyst Tom
Kurlak said on Tuesday he reduced his earnings estimates on
shares of various semiconductor companies including LSI Logic
Corp and Texas Instruments Inc .
-- Kurlak said companies are experiencing slower order
rates for a variety of reasons, which, combined with excess
industry capacity, has caused weaker prices.
-- The weaker pricing is offsetting unit growth, he said.
-- Kurlak cut 1998 estimate on Texas Instruments to a range
of $2.00 to $2.50 per share from $3.00 per share, but left his
1997 estimate unchanged at $2.04 per share.
-- Cuts 1998 estimate on LSI Logic to range of $1.10 to
$1.20 per share from range of $1.20 to $1.30 per share but
keeps 1997 estimate at $1.12 per share.
-- Lowers 1998 earnings estimate on shares of VLSI
Technology Inc to a range of $1.40 to $1.50 per share
frmo a range of $1.55 to $1.70 per share. Leaves 1997 estimate
on VLSI unchanged at $1.29 per share.
-- Reduces 1997 estimate on shares of Altera Corp
to $1.51 per share from $1.57 per share and 1998 estimate to
range of $1.60 to $1.75 per share from $2.00 per share.
-- Altera said on Tuesday it expects fourth-quarter revenue
and earnings per share to be about as much as it reported in
the third quarter on weaker-than-expected sales of its computer
chips.
-- Kurlak said semiconductor industry faced overcapacity
which 1996 correction did not eliminate.
-- Lead times were also very short and customers were not
stocking much inventory, he said. "You have an inventory
reduction going on," he said.
-- Also, growth in the semiconductor industry's end
markets, such as workstations, personal computers, wireless and
telecom switching, was decelerating slightly, he said.
-- "Generally they are ordering less," Kurlak said. "The
companies that sell to those companies are telling us this."
-- Altera shed 11 to 40-11/16, VLSI lost 2-5/16 to 20-5/8,
LSI fell 1-13/16 to 23-5/16 and Texas Instruments lost 3-12/16
to 48-1/16. |
