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biz.yahoo.com
Wednesday November 18, 10:56 am Eastern Time
Appliedtells suppliers to gear up--analyst
NEW YORK, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Advest analyst Timothy Summers said Wednesday that Applied Materials Inc. (Nasdaq:AMAT - news), the world's largest maker of semiconductor equipment, has been telling its suppliers to get ready to ramp up production.
''More important than yesterday's earnings announcement is what we have recently heard from AMAT's suppliers,'' he said in a research note.
He said that within the last two weeks, AMAT has told several key component suppliers to prepare for an increase in business from AMAT, as much as 8 percent on a sequential quarterly basis.
''Even though AMAT has the ability to turn on and off its supply chain quickly, this is the first time we have heard any good news out of our supplier contacts regarding their AMAT business in several quarters,'' he said.
Applied Materials came out with fiscal fourth quarter earnings after the close on Tuesday that beat Wall Street forecasts. Excluding charges, Applied said its earnings fell to $26.4 million, or 7 cents a share, for the fiscal fourth quarter ended Oct. 25, from $187.3 million, or 49 cents a share, a year ago. The results topped analyst expectations of 2 cents a share, according to research firm First Call Corp.
Shares of Applied Materials started the session higher but quickly shed the losses. The stock was trading off 5/8 to 36-3/4, with the shares among the most active on the Nasdaq.
Summers raised the stock's rating to strong buy from market
perform.
Shares of AMAT rallied 72 percent over the past month.
Applied Materials officials were not immediately available
for comment. |
