To: Duker who wrote (3017 ) 6/30/1999 8:10:00 PM From: Jong Hyun Yoo Read Replies (2) | Respond to of 5867
Now that we have this Fed rate issue has been settled, investors' attention will be set on the earning outlook for the coming Q. This is a good news for LAM. I am expecting LAM to outperform its peers in terms of EPS performance. Currently, consensus is that LAM will earn 11c per share based on roughly 190 million in revenue. I think there will be a moderate upside to this revenue number this Q. I am expecting the revenue close to 200 million( maybe 197) and EPS of about 16-17 cents. LAM should burn through all the excess manufacturing material by this Q and should start using new material with much better margin in the coming Q. If LAM had a little more manufacturing volume than what I am expecting, it might br already in the process of using new materials, which will yield higher gross margin and further upside surprise to EPS. What I am really looking to hear is LAM's guidance on the next Q revenue. From what I have heard, LAM is really experiencing a very robust ramp-up in the manufacturing volume. I am guessing that LAM will be able to reach $220 million in revenue and EPS of more than 40 cents next Q. With respect to LAM's CMP tools, I am beginning to hear some nice feedbacks especially with its very uniform dishing performance from the edge to center of the wafer. This is very desirable performance for very demanding application such as STI (shallow trench Isolation). In late 80's and early 90's, LAM was late entering the etch market compared to its competitors such as AMAT and TEL. However, LAM focused on the weakness of AMAt and TEL and grabbed #1 position in the etch market by mid 90's with superior etch process (TCP). If the history can repeat, LAM can do the same in the CMP market. Currently, the leader is AMAT but LAM does have very differentiated CMP product with superior performance with respect to certain process spec.. Let's wait and see how the story unfolds.