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Technology Stocks : Mattson Technology -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: James Calladine who wrote (2311)	12/18/1999 12:30:00 AM
From: Q.	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3661

any opinions about the significance of today's news items that Novellus expects to blow away previous estimates due to increased bookings, and that analysts say Intel will speed up 300 mm by 6 months? Does this mean that Mattson is also likely experiencing higher-than-expected bookings? Does Intel's strip supplier have a 300 mm tool yet? ================ 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.