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To: jetcityrandy who wrote (35925)	12/17/1999 1:12:00 PM
From: Don Green	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 93625

Semiconductor companies find it pays to split stocks By Bill McIlvaine Semiconductor Business News (12/17/99, 01:08:40 PM EDT) NEW YORK -- If you still need a measure of the semiconductor industry's comeback from the crash of 1998, you might consider the stock split. In recent days, a number of semiconductor makers and capital equipment companies have announced stock splits. The trend may be reflecting a bigger recovery than the industry had expected a year ago, when chip stocks were languishing (see story from the Nov. 15, 1998 online publication) and capital equipment stocks were downright dismal (see related story). On Thursday, KLA-Tencor Corp. announced today a two-for-one stock split in the form of a 100% stock dividend, which will be paid in January. Siliconix Inc, a subsidiary of Vishay Intertechnology Inc., on Wednesday declared a three-for-one stock split, to be effected by issuing two shares of common stock for each share of the company's common stock outstanding. Siliconix, a maker of power MOSFETs and analog ICs, also plans to increase the authorized shares from 10 millin to 100 million. Depending on stockholders' approval, the split will take effect in February. Kopin Corp., a maker of gallium arsenide (GaAs) heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) wafers and microdisplays, announced Thursday that it was increasing the company's authorized shares of common stock from 20 million to 60 million, which was necessary to accommodate a two-for-one stock split announced earlier. And TranSwitch Corp., a fabless maker Internet connectivity ICs based in Shelton, Conn., on Wednesday announced a 3-for-2 stock split of its common stock. That followed another 3-for-2 split in April that brought the number of commo shares outstanding in the company to 25.3 million. The just-announced split will bring that to 42.0 million shares next February. “What you're seeing is a function of the fact that these stocks have risen so far,” said Tim Summers, a semiconductor equipment analyst at financial researcher Advest Inc. in Chicago. “Many of these stocks are approaching and even exceeding $100 a share.” That prices them out of the range of the retail investor -- “or at least that's the perception of the companies' management,” according to Summers. By bringing the stock price down into the the mid-50s or so, “it makes the retail investor feel like they can participate.” It also usually has the effect of boosting the price of the existing stocks. KLA-Tencor, ehe San Jose-based wafer metrology systems maker, whose stock price one year ago was $43, began trading today at $98 and even hit $101, according to Summers. Kopin's stock was trading at $38 in October, hit $80 when the split was announced on Dec. 9, and was still at $80.125 at mid-day, the highest Kopin's stock had been in at least five years. Summers said he wouldn't be surprised that other capital equipment companies like Applied Materials, Novellus Systems, Lam Research, and ASM Lithography split their stocks soon. “Applied is up to $113,” he noted. The turnaround of chip companies' fortunes in the past year has been spectacular, said Summers. “Lam Research, which was at $7 once in 1998, is now up to $92.” When it comes to splitting stocks, he said, “It's not a question of if, but when.”