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Technology Stocks : Kulicke and Soffa -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: XBrit who wrote (3558)	11/10/1999 8:00:00 AM
From: Darin	Respond to of 5482

First part of report... 12-Month Target Price: To $45 from $32 Ind. Div.: -- Yield: -- Shares: 23.4 mil. 52-Wk.Range: 9-35 EPS FY Year P/E 1Q 2Q 3Q 4Q Current 9/98A ($0.23) NM $0.29A $0.39A $(0.13)A ($0.79)A Current 9/99E $0.50E 69.9X ($0.38)A $(0.35)A $(0.03)A $0.23E Current 12/00E $1.95E 17.9X $0.33E $0.43E $0.55E $0.64E Prior $1.45E $0.25E $0.31E $0.41E $0.47E INVESTMENT HIGHLIGHTS: Expect solid 4Q99 earnings report. KLIC is due to report 4Q99 on November 18. We are currently estimating revenue and EPS of $145 million and $0.23. Current street consensus is $0.25. We are currently estimating new bookings in the quarter of $150-$155 million - this is up from our original estimate of $145- 150 million, yielding a book to bill of 1.06. Current business at KLIC is strong and improving as the semiconductor industry begins to build wire-bonding capacity to meet demand. We believe there is modest upside to our estimates in 4Q99 (Sept). Outlook is improving into 1Q and FY00. We believe that KLIC has reason to be bullish on the upcoming conference call. The Company is currently benefiting from a technology and capacity cycle in its core wire bonding market. We believe the Company will ship approximately 950 bonders in 4Q99 with guidance for sequential growth in 1Q99. Although 2Q00 (March) could be sequentially flat units due to seasonal issues, we believe that visibility is firming for continued sequential growth. Units in 2HFY00 should show good sequential improvements over 1HFY00. *Cost cutting programs, strong demand and less competitive pricing pressure should drive margins over the next several quarters. This is the key investment theme on the stock at the current time, in our opinion. We believe there is tremendous leverage in the Company's P&L, not yet reflected in street consensus numbers for FY00. The Company is currently moving production of wire bonders from Willow Grove to Singapore, and we are gaining confidence that this transition is progressing well. The Company will begin initial shipments in the December quarter and ramp to move volume shipments in the March