There are always some interesting items to look at and ponder with
the group of 41 stocks by making certain comparisons. The comparison
table below is made up of PSR, PBR and next years PE. The data can
vary a little, depending on where you look in the internet, but the
following information was tabulated within the last week and put
together with Friday's closing prices. I should point out that in
the PE column, anywhere there is a "blank" the PE is either negative
or no estimate is available to calculate a number.
The first 2 stocks in the table, AFLX and SFLX, have been "hammered
mercilessly" for the past several weeks. Both of them look like
great buys, and maybe they have found their lows with the past few
days, but no sign of life there yet. AFLX has a rather poor cash
position, but SFLX should be very adequate, yet it seems to make no
difference in their price action of the last few weeks. Just like
last October, when the whole group was grossly oversold, they are
obviously oversold, but who knows when they are going to gain a
little life - they may even go lower yet before they turn-around.
FSII took a big hit in price this week winding up on the bottom of
the list with a 27 percent loss because of a bad earnings report. It
now has a very attractive PSR and PBR number, but the PE for next
year of 31 is quite high.
The next good looking stock in the table is MASK. It is selling at
next year's PE of 9. MASK has always sold at a huge discount
compared to PLAB and DPMI. I have never been able to find a reason
for this action.
IPEC has a very low PE of 9 compared to SFAM with a PE of 28 a little
further down the table. The merger of these 2 companies is presently
scheduled for April.
Going a little further down the table, IMSC also looks good with a
next year's PE of 9. I do not follow this company at all, however,
so I don't have any reason why this situation.
After IMSC, all stocks in the table have PE's in the teens, 20's and
30's. People like them better and therefore the stock prices are
higher.
Finally, at the bottom line, the average PSR is shown as 2.14 and the
average PBR is shown as 2.53.
03/26/99 NEXT
CLOSE 12 MONS YEAR
SYMBOL COMPANY PRICE PSR PBR PE
AFLX Adflex Solutions 3.13 0.16 0.58 5
SFLX Smartflex Systems 3.63 0.22 0.46 6
ASEC Aseco 1.88 0.28 0.41
WFR MEMC Electronic Materials 6.81 0.36 0.59
SMTL Semitool 6.19 0.52 0.99 18
SVGI Silicon Valley Group 10.63 0.69 0.63 16
FSII FSI International 6.19 0.76 0.72 31
MICN Micrion 8.75 0.78 1.26
WJ Watkins Johnson 23.69 0.81 1.19 15
MASK Align-Rite International 11.75 1.01 1.25 9
TGAL Tegal 3.13 1.06 0.94
LTXX LTX 5.00 1.20 3.62 20
IPEC Integrated Process Equipment 8.56 1.25 2.16 9
COHU Cohu 24.31 1.39 1.73
SFAM SpeedFAM 12.25 1.46 0.68 28
IMSC Integrated Measurement Systems 7.25 1.47 1.01 9
LRCX Lam Research 29.00 1.48 2.70 35
ASYT Asyst Technologies 14.50 1.49 1.55
KLIC Kulicke & Soffa Industries 23.31 1.56 1.95 19
MTSN Mattson Technology 6.81 1.73 1.95
NANO Nanometrics 7.13 1.86 1.98 11
GSNX Gasonics 10.63 1.97 2.20 19
CFMT CFM Technologies 9.00 2.13 0.91 29
PLAB Photronics 20.13 2.20 2.41 18
PHTN Photon Dynamics 6.22 2.21 3.08 16
BRKS Brooks Automation 20.75 2.41 1.89 24
DPMI Dupont Photomasks 40.75 2.41 2.40 24
EGLS Electroglas 12.50 2.44 1.48 26
CMOS Credence Systems 19.75 2.51 2.79 16
VECO Veeco Instruments 36.50 2.57 5.03 17
TER Teradyne 52.56 2.97 4.29 20
CYMI Cymer 20.63 3.02 5.14 21
ETEC Etec System 42.88 3.16 3.74 19
NVLS Novellus Systems 53.50 3.52 5.15 18
HELX Helix Technology 15.13 3.54 5.11 50
PRIA Pri Automation 24.94 3.62 4.76 34
UTEK Ultratech Stepper 14.00 3.62 1.31 22
ATMI ATMI Inc 19.00 4.30 3.08 20
KLAC KLA Instruments 49.50 4.69 3.66 32
AMAT Applied Materials 57.81 6.20 6.70 27
ASML ASM Lithography Holdings 42.75 6.50 10.13 35
TOTALS/AVE 792.83 2.14 2.53 |
