To: Tsaen Wang who wrote (23793 ) 12/17/1999 8:55:00 PM From: orkrious Read Replies (2) | Respond to of 25960
One of these days CYMI will get its respect. I can't believe it is not mentioned in the following article as one of the major beneficiaries of the 300mm build out. (I guess I shouldn't complain, PRIA is my second largest holding.) One of these days the market will realize it, and not only will the 40's be history, the 50's will be too. PRIA's 8 point day was today; CYMI's is right around the corner. Shares Of Chip Equipment Makers Rise On Upbeat Analysts' Comments Dow Jones Online News, Friday, December 17, 1999 at 18:28 By Mark Boslet, Staff Reporter PALO ALTO, Calif. -(Dow Jones)- The stocks of several makers of semiconductor production equipment rose after a Merrill Lynch & Co. analyst raised price targets on two of them and Chase H&Q (formerly Hambrecht & Quist Inc.) held an upbeat conference call. On the conference call, analyst Eric Chen said he believed chip-giant Intel Corp. (INTC) was accelerating its adoption of 300-mm technology by six months. The use of 300-mm silicon wafers - 12-inches in diameter rather than the 8-inch-diameter wafers used today - reduces manufacturing costs by allowing more chips to be produced from a single wafer. It also requires large investments in new equipment, which will benefit equipment makers. Merrill Lynch raised its price target on Novellus Systems Inc. (NVLS) to $120 from $100 and its target on KLA Tencor Corp. (KLAC) to $115 from $90, Merrill analyst Tom Diffely said. Merrill also lifted its 2000 earnings estimate on Novellus to $4 a share from $3.35 and raised its estimate for KLA. Novellus is winning more business from Intel and Taiwan chip-giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSM), Diffely said, adding KLA is seeing increasing business in Taiwan and Japan. Chen said Intel appears to be planning for volume production using 300-mm wafers in early 2001 instead of the company's original target of late 2001. "This is a major development" and should bring a wave of new business to equipment companies, he said. Chen said he sees PRI Automation Inc. (PRIA) and Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT) especially benefiting from Intel's decision. H&Q put the two companies on its focus list, which identifies companies poised for short-term stock appreciation. Chen has "buy" ratings on both. An Intel spokesman noted the company announced in June it expected to begin production with 300-mm wafer technology in 2002. The chip maker has a 300-mm plant, or fab, under development in Oregon and expects to begin equiping it next year, the spokesman said. Novellus shares were up 11%, or $8.469, to close at $85.156 Friday on volume of three million shares. PRI was up 17%, or $8.125, to close at $56.50 on volume of two million shares, compared with a daily average of 365,800. KLA rose 4% and LAM Research Corp. (LRCX) moved ahead 1.6% while Applied Materials ended fractionally higher. Copyright (c) 1999 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.