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Technology Stocks : PRI Automation (PRIA) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Thomas DeGagne who wrote (748)	7/19/1999 9:44:00 PM
From: Ian@SI	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1214

Just listened to the conference call. Quite positive throughout. In addition to the wins this Quarter, PRIA still sees another 10 new fab opportunities primarily in Asia, 5 expansions primarily in the US plus whatever Japan might do. Tax rate will be zero for about the next 5 quarters. Book to bill was quite high: Mitch spoke too quickly but I believe Automation equipment was 1.7:1. another area was 2:1. I might listen to my recording of the call to get a better handle on what he said precisely. Of especial interest to the rest of the Semi Equipment sector: Mitch is seeing a continuation of 200mm orders. Several times throughout the Q and A, he confirmed that there was no slowdown in 200mm fab automation orders nor did he see any sign that there might be such a slowdown in the next year. i.e. 300mm is still in Pilot mode, not production mode at the chip makers; and none of them are going to sacrifice their production capability before 300mm is proven to produce their chips in production quality and quantity. All in all, a much more positive call than I'd expected. The only somewhat negative comment that I heard was that due to equipment mix, margins would decline to 38-40% range next quarter, then return to about 42% in the following quarter, then grow throughout the year. Looking good for both PRIA and the Sector. Hopefully, we'll get a massive selloff. I have some $ that need to be put to work. :-) Ian.