Morgan Stanley issued a report on 12/22 on the prospects for the Semi-Equipment industry vis a vis the November Book to Bill and the Asian turmoil. Generally, they thought, bookings for the first half of '98 would be sluggish.
"However," they write, "as the second half of '98 unfolds, we expect the likelihood of capital spending growth in '99 to be reflected by accelerated equipment bookings. We expect semiconductor industry fundamentals to improve and equipment stocks to start a sustained rise in the second quarter. We continue to believe equipment stocks are attractive intermediate/long term buys even though we expect near-term trading to be choppy."
Although they mention that investors should focus on companies in high growth segments such as deep-UV, they remain cautious on Cymer. As reported in their Cymer report, they continue to believe that Cymer could be negatively affected in the short term by a potential laser inventory correction instigated by one or two of its three largest customers. (Since they give a glowing, bullish review of ASMLF, I guess we know who that means.) "From a competitive perspective," they also write, "we believe, following our trip to Japan a few weeks ago where we met with Canon, Komatsu, and Nikon, that Cymer is firmly in the lead and is as strong as ever."
Rustam |
