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

To: unclewest who wrote (1464)	1/6/2000 1:24:00 PM
From: JH	Respond to of 10713

Thanks for the phone#, Uncle. Listened to the conference call w/ half an ear b/c was busy trading so don't have all the details. However, will give it a shot. Generally very bullish. CREE's high-brightness LEDs currently only have 1/3 the production yield of the lower-brightness product, but had significant room to improve. Average ASPs increased for the quarter despite of the general drop in the price of the lower-brightness LEDs. High-brightness LEDs have dispelled the widespread belief that SiC-based LEDs could not match/exceed those made from sapphire substrates from competitors (ie. Nichikon). First time in CREE's history gross margins have exceeded 50%. Net margin is still very high at 24%. Big backlog in orders - customers are mostly on allocation. Biggest challenge for the company is to ramp up production capacity. Capital raised from upcoming secondary issue will fund this expansion. Two interesting factoids in the Q&A session - CREE will supply Sony with LEDs for the Playstation 2. When asked where the LEDs will be used, the presenter answered that it was for the indicator light. CREE could not confirm or deny whether GNTX's LED-based automobile indoor lighting products used CREE's products.