Here's their follow-up article.
I'd like to offer a public thank you to Mark Edelstone for his RMBS & INTC comments.
But, am I the only one who suspects that the timing of the release of his comments coming after the past two days of fud-filled "news" and media explanations of the drop-off, was suspicious? Is anyone who uses MSDW willing to admit that the word from within went out yesterday to buy in? Or, am I just of a too suspicious nature? Whatever ... we all knew Mark would be upgrading it soon. The only question in my mind was how positive his comments would be and what would be his price target. Does anybody know what his time-frame is for that 500. Next week? <gg>
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cnnfn.com
Chips drive tech rally
Technology stocks continue to soar; Micron, Rambus surge on outlooks
March 22, 2000: 6:05 p.m. ET
NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Technology stocks soared Wednesday, with some big-name semiconductor issues such as Rambus and Micron Technology leading the way.
The Philadelphia Stock Exchange's semiconductor index, or Soxx, surged 110.1, or 9.2 percent to 1,304.59. Meanwhile, the tech-rich Nasdaq composite ended the session 153.01 higher at 4,864.69, a 3.3 percent gain on the day.
"A lot of money left the sector last week over concerns that valuations were just too high," said Barry Hyman, senior equity analyst at Ehrenkrantz King Nussbaum. "But there's still a lot of interest in technology."
One of Wednesday's biggest chip gainers was Micron Technology (MU: Research, Estimates), which rose 20 to 139-1/4, a 16.8 percent rise on the day. Those gains came in spite of a less-than-stellar second-quarter earnings report that the memory-chip maker posted after Tuesday's close.
Micron turned in earnings that came in well shy of analysts' consensus forecasts. Even so, many of those same analysts chimed in Wednesday with bullish outlooks for the company during the remainder of the year, helping boost Micron shares.
Shares of Rambus (RMBS: Research, Estimates), which makes money by licensing a technology used to speed up computer memory chips, also gained sharply, adding 83-13/16, or 31.4 percent, to 350-3/8.
Morgan Stanley Dean Witter analyst Mark Edelstone boosted his price target on Rambus to 500 from 266, and said the company could be earning $7 to $10 per share by 2003
"Based on its overall business model and long-term opportunity, we believe Rambus has one of the most attractive intellectual property franchises in the semiconductor industry," Edelstone said in a research note. "As royalty revenues increase during the next several years, we believe Rambus' net margins should exceed 50 percent and they will probably end up becoming one of the highest profit margins ever enjoyed by a semiconductor-based company."
Edelstone also helped boost Intel (INTC: Research, Estimates) Wednesday. Shares of the microprocessor giant ended the session 5-5/18 higher at 144-1/16, a 4 percent gain on the day.
Edelstone on Wednesday raised his price target on Intel to 175 from 125 and boosted his earnings-per-share estimate for fiscal 2000 to $3.00 from $2.90, predicting that the company will turn in better-than-expected first-quarter earnings.
"We expect seasonally normal PC demand and a richer product mix to drive a positive first quarter earnings surprise," Edelstone said in a research note. "PC demand should accelerate in the second half of 2000, (driven by) a strong economy, Windows 2000 and a sharp increase in microprocessor price performance."
Intel rival Advanced Micro Devices rose 1-3/4 to 59-9/16, a 3.2 percent rise on the day.
Other chip makers posting strong gains Wednesday included National Semiconductor (NSM: Research, Estimates), up 6-3/8 at 70, a 10 percent gain; Actel (ACTL: Research, Estimates), which added 3-3/8, or 10.7 percent, to 35; Analog Devices (ADI: Research, Estimates), which gained 7, ending the session 8.2 percent higher at 92; Atmel (ATML: Research, Estimates), up 6-1/2, or 12.3 percent, at 59-1/2; and PMC-Sierra (PMCS: Research, Estimates), which rose 19-1/16 to 225, a 9.3 percent gain on the day.
Among semiconductor manufacturing-equipment makers, Applied Materials (AMAT: Research, Estimates) rose 6-3/4, or 7 percent, to 104-3/4, and Novellus Systems (AMAT: Research, Estimates) shares gained 2-1/4 to 64, a 3.6 percent rise on the day. |
