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Strategies & Market Trends : Cents and Sensibility - Kimberly and Friends' Consortium -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: KevinMark who wrote (79610)	2/28/2000 11:30:00 AM
From: puborectalis	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 108040

SILI three-for-one split after close.....hot one........Siliconix pays off for Vishay Sat Feb 26 00:00:00 EST 2000 Feb. 25, 2000 (Electronic Buyers News - CMP via COMTEX) -- Vishay Intertechnology Inc. found the proverbial goose that lays golden eggs when it acquired Siliconix Inc., manufacturer of power MOSFETs, power ICs, and analog signal devices, in 1998. The only difference was that Vishay had to first clean this bird's nest. So far, Vishay's efforts have received positive endorsement on Wall Street, where Siliconix's shares have risen in barely 12 months to a high of $282.50, up 1,427% from the 52-week low of $18.50. A restructuring plan initiated by Vishay is making a huge difference in the Santa Clara, Calif., discrete-semiconductor maker's bottom line. Gross margins improved to 45% in the fourth quarter of 1999 from 35% in the year-ago quarter, boosting profits during the same period to $24.4 million, up 279% from $6.4 million. The company's revenue has also risen in response to surging demand for its products. Siliconix's management attributed the company's vitality to improvements made in the product mix, increased fab efficiencies, and tighter spending controls. Since acquiring an 80.4% stake of the company from Daimler Benz, Vishay, Malvern, Pa., has whittled expenses in half. In the last quarter, selling, marketing, and administrative expenses fell $6.8 million and decreased to 12.7% of sales, compared with 19.6% in 1998, according to Siliconix. As it moves forward, Siliconix will focus on meeting rising demand for its products used in some of the industry's hottest markets, such as telecom, portable computers, and automotive. "With continuing high demand, our capacity is stretched for both front-end and back-end manufacturing," said King Owyang, president and chief executive of Siliconix, in a recent statement. "However, we believe that we have adequate programs to increase capacity to effectively address these issues during the year." Vishay has no complaints about the latest addition to its family, according to Felix Zandman, the company's chairman and chief executive. This week, Siliconix will be implementing a 3-for-1 stock split that is expected to make the company's shares attractive to institutional investors. If this plan works as Zandman and his management expects, more of those golden eggs will be rolling out in the months ahead.