Kirk: FWIW, closed out shorts in early afternoon. Did not get the lows but it looks like Justa's better half may have a new set of wheels in her future <g>. Lucky her <g>.
It became apparent to me during the day that BTB did not matter to the crowd. Crowd was focused on DRAM prices and the MU surge. Of course, there is no rational reason for this focus but that is what the crowd was looking at today.
But these large cap semi equips are dangerous IMO at this time. With sequential decline in bookings, these stocks are hanging by the thread of DRAM prices until orders pick up. If the DRAM prices decline before orders return, the large caps stocks (especially) in this sector have downside potential.
SFAM reports. Misses earnings but sequential pick up in orders with a BTB going from .75 to 1.13. CC: (719) 457-0820; #772080 after 5:00pm PST.
Wednesday September 22, 4:15 pm Eastern Time
Company Press Release
SpeedFam-IPEC, Inc. Announces
First-Quarter Fiscal 2000 Results
CHANDLER, Ariz.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 22, 1999--SpeedFam-IPEC, Inc.
(Nasdaq:SFAM - news), a leading supplier of high-throughput chemical mechanical planarization
(CMP) systems for the semiconductor industry and flat surface processing systems for the thin
film memory disk media and silicon wafer industries worldwide, today announced its financial
results for the first quarter ended August 31, 1999. All year-over-year comparisons stated below
reflect the combined results of SpeedFam International, Inc. and Integrated Process Equipment
Corp. (IPEC), which merged on April 6, 1999.
For the first quarter of fiscal year 2000, SpeedFam-IPEC's total revenue was $50.3 million,
compared with $65.6 million for the same quarter of fiscal 1999. Net loss was $11.0 million, or a
loss of $0.37 per share, compared with a net loss of $7.3 million, or a loss of $0.25 per share, a
year ago.
On a sequential basis, first-quarter 2000 total revenue increased from $49.3 million for
fourth-quarter 1999. First-quarter net loss and net loss per share decreased significantly from
$46.0 million and $1.58 per share, respectively, for the preceding quarter, excluding
merger-related and other one-time integration charges.
''In the first quarter, as expected, we saw fourth-quarter prospecting activity lead to new CMP
system orders,'' said Richard J. Faubert, president and chief executive officer. ''As a result, our
book-to-bill ratio rose sequentially from 0.75 to 1.13, and CMP demand was especially strong,
with approximately 60% growth in orders quarter to quarter. With the merger and integration
largely completed, we are now more focused on building CMP market share through the
aggressive pursuit of new accounts, as well as repeat business from existing accounts, and on
maintaining high levels of satisfaction in our customer base. At the same time, we are pleased that
we have significantly reduced operating expenses.''
Faubert continued, ''Despite these reductions, we continued investing substantially in the
enhancement of current customers' oxide and metal applications to support industry trends
toward line widths of 0.18 microns and below. We also sustained our investment in research and
development for copper and 300mm wafer process technologies. During the first quarter, we
successfully completed Sematech's marathon oxide processing run for 300mm wafers on our
AvantGaard 876 system. We believe that copper and 300mm technologies will be the major
drivers of CMP market growth, as semiconductor device manufacturers ramp up the next cycle
of capacity buying. We expect to capitalize on this opportunity by fully leveraging the industry's
largest installed base of CMP systems, as well as our leadership in CMP applications.''
The CMP Group's first-quarter sales to the semiconductor device market were $39.8 million, or
79.1% of total revenue, compared with $50.9 million, or 77.6%, for the same quarter of fiscal
1999. The Surface Technology Group's sales to the thin film memory disk media and silicon
wafer markets accounted for $7.7 million, or 15.3% of total revenue, compared with $11.1
million, or 16.9%, a year ago. The Industrial Applications Group contributed $2.8 million, or
5.6% of total revenue, compared with $3.6 million, or 5.5%, a year earlier.
SpeedFam-IPEC, Inc.
SpeedFam-IPEC, Inc. designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and supports chemical
mechanical planarization (CMP) systems used in the fabrication of semiconductor devices and
other high-throughput precision surface processing systems. SpeedFam-IPEC's flat surface
processing systems are used in the thin film memory disk media, silicon wafer and general
industrial applications markets.
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