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To: Uncle Frank who wrote (61035)	1/9/2000 2:10:00 PM
From: Ruffian	Respond to of 152472

Can't Hurt> Semiconductor industry earnings seen as strong By Therese Poletti SAN FRANCISCO, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Thriving U.S. computer chip makers are expected to report a robust fourth quarter beginning this week, driven by a boom in communications and consumer electronics products, strong personal computer demand and favorable pricing. After a three-year industry downturn, the semiconductor industry recovery was in full swing this year, and chip factory utilization rates are running high. Both corporate and consumer demand remained high in the fourth quarter, and chip makers have had more pricing power this quarter, which will help boost revenues and profit margins, analysts said. ''I think fourth quarter earnings results will be fabulous for the semiconductor industry,'' said Mark Edelstone, a Morgan Stanley Dean Witter analyst. ''We are looking for most companies to meet or beat expectations.'' However, one concern during the quarter was inventory imbalances, with some companies double-ordering to store up on some parts, and shortages of others. The inventory issue became apparent last month after contract board manufacturer Solectron Corp. (NYSE:SLR - news) announced first-quarter revenues that were short of expectations, due to some component shortages. It also had a $400 million inventory increase, which it built up as a Y2K buffer. One company that may see an impact from supply imbalances is No. 1 chip maker Intel Corp. (NasdaqNM:INTC - news), which will be among the first to report. Intel will report fourth-quarter earnings after the U.S. stock markets close on Thursday. Investors have been jittery about Intel's earnings, especially after PC maker Gateway Inc. (NYSE:GTW - news) pre-announced lower-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings last week, citing in part an inability to get enough supplies of some Intel chips. Earlier in the quarter, Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel said that amid strong PC demand, it hoped to meet all customer commitments. Then in mid-November, the chip maker said it would have a hard time meeting orders beyond its existing commitments. ''They (Intel) left a lot of money on the table too,'' said Ashok Kumar, an analyst with U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray. Kumar said that due to supply constraints and some double bookings, which resulted in cancellations, marginal upside may be limited. However, even with these limitations, most analysts are still expecting Intel to beat estimates. According to First Call/Thomson Financial, the Intel consensus estimate is 63 cents a share, excluding any charges for its numerous acquisitions in recent months. Intel archrival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. is also expected to fare well in the fourth quarter, with no problems in its manufacturing. The company could report a break-even fourth quarter or a slight profit, buoyed also by its new Athlon processors that have been exceeding expectations. ''Fourth quarter business conditions at AMD are outstanding,'' Erika Klauer, an analyst with Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown, said in a recent report to clients. ''The company remains confident that they will achieve break-even results in the quarter.'' The communications sector is expected to be booming again, with possibly better-than-expected results from Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE:TXN - news), the leader is digital signal processors (DSPs), which are used in cell phones and other communications devices. In the consumer electronics arena, LSI Logic Corp. (NYSE:LSI - news) is expected to benefit from strong sales of satellite set-top boxes and DVD (digital video disk) players during the holiday shopping season, analysts said. The following are consensus estimates for fourth quarter earnings, unless otherwise noted, of some major U.S. semiconductor companies, as compiled by First Call. COMPANY CONSENSUS REPORTING DATE AMD loss $0.01 Jan. 19 Altera (NasdaqNM:ALTR - news) profit $0.30 Jan. 19 Broadcom (NasdaqNM:BRCM - news) profit $0.27 Jan. 18 Conexant (NasdaqNM:CNXT - news), Q1 profit $0.20 Jan. 19 Cypress Semi (NYSE:CY - news) profit $0.29 Jan. 25 Intel Corp. profit $0.63 Jan. 13 LSI Logic profit $0.43 Jan. 25 Texas Instruments profit $0.47 Jan. 25 Xilinx (NasdaqNM:XLNX - news) Q3 profit $0.19 Jan. 18 Vitesse (NasdaqNM:VTSS - news) Q1 profit $0.14 Jan. 10 More Quotes and News: Altera Corp (NasdaqNM:ALTR - news) Broadcom Corp (NasdaqNM:BRCM - news) Conexant Systems Inc (NasdaqNM:CNXT - news) Cypress Semiconductor Corp (NYSE:CY - news) Gateway Inc (NYSE:GTW - news) Intel Corp (NasdaqNM:INTC - news) LSI Logic Corp (NYSE:LSI - news) Solectron Corp (Delware) (NYSE:SLR - news) Texas Instruments Inc (NYSE:TXN - news) Vitesse Semiconductor Corp (NasdaqNM:VTSS - news) Xilinx Inc (NasdaqNM:XLNX - news) Related News Categories: US Market News

To: Uncle Frank who wrote (61035)	1/9/2000 3:04:00 PM
From: RocketMan	Respond to of 152472

Awareness that AOL hadn't developed a broadband solution. The specter of free ISP services from Mr. Softee and others. A general correction in the Inutz sector. Good points, UF, but you might be underestimating the mo crowd that was playing an AOL split. At that time the nutz were splitting at almost every earnings, and a lot of mo players were piling on pre-earnings and selling on earnings. As far as the broadband issue being the reason, I'm sure it contributed but be aware that athm sold off big time as well (ouch). That free ISP bugaboo was interesting, an intentional bait and switch strategy by Mr Softee to lure eyeballs who he hoped would later become paying subs. Don't know if you have followed it, but he already pulled the plug on California, claims it costs too much because people were signing up then canceling. Duh... Then there is Juno, whose price skyrocketed when they announced free ISP and last week it went up when they announced a lot of new members. Maybe if they keep giving things away free they might out-Amazon Amazon. Oh well, back to Qcom, nice gorilla, eh?