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Technology Stocks : Cymer (CYMI) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ian@SI who wrote (22352)	6/30/1999 11:48:00 PM
From: Jerome	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25960

Why work with CYMI options? At the current price of options CYMI is less risky than buying options on AMAT or NVLS. In my opinion option money is money always at risk. If you own a stock and it goes down time may heal your wounds unless you bought Compaq at 50 or IFMX at 25 . Look at the prices that have to be paid for the risk assumed. A Jan.75 call on AMAT will cost you 12 1/4. A Dec. NVLS 70 will cost 12. As this semiconductor group continues its recovery, investors will start looking for companies that have not yet had a big run-up. Buy buying a Feb. 00 25 call on CYMI there will be 3 earnings reports in the interim. If CYMI's earnings don't improve in the next three quarters they ain't never gonna make it. (famous last words) I have reviewed the following stocks for options. CYMI, ASYT, KLIC and VECO. Both CYMI and VECO are laggards. The call premium for these two companies is low relative to others in the group. This month everyone loves AMAT, NVLS, KLAC, LRCX. But they are due for a pull back. In the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday, page Rl4, Frederick L. Wolf a semi-conductor Equipment Analyst calls current prices frothy. His picks for the next six months are ETEC and ASYT. His best pick for the last year was VECO. In options there are easy plays and there are hard plays. I don't know how I would (or if I would) buy call options when a stock is at its peak. But this is where the average investor goes. He would be enticed by a broker to buy poor call on AMAT rather than a less risky call on CYMI. Look at the comparative charts, which one would you rather own? Liquidity is a problem. On an option that's deep in the money its sometimes difficult to get the intrinsic bid price of the stock. That's how floor traders make a living. In this respect we all have horror stories. If you have suggestion for other semi-equipment stocks in regards to options I would like to hear them. CYMI and VECO look like the two best plays at the moment. There are only a few ways to make money on stocks. 1) Appreciation 2) covered call writing, 3) options (long or short) 4) Margin The first three used I use in various degrees. But even with doing the math and staying away from hunches things can still go wrong. Regards, Jerome