THE WALL STREET TRANSCRIPT PUBLISHES SEMINVEST 2000 SEMICONDUCTOR EQUIPMENT CONFERENCE ISSUE
Story Filed: Friday, March 24, 2000 9:30 AM EST
NEW YORK, Mar 24, 2000 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Four leading analysts and eighteen members of top management examine the Semiconductor Equipment sector in this special 78-page SEMInvest 2000 Special Issue available at twst.com or by calling The Wall Street Transcript 212-952-7433.
In a vital review of this sector for investors and industry professionals, this 78-page issue features:
1) Semiconductor Equipments -- Susan Billat, Managing Director with Robertson Stephens, Robert Maire, Managing Director at Bear Stearns, Michael O'Brien, Managing Director with Wit Soundview, and Theodore O'Neill, Principal with Needham & Company, examine the outlook for Semiconductor Equipment in this timely and deeply informative 15,200 word interview from The Wall Street Transcript (212/952-7433) or twst.com
Commenting on the semiconductor equipment sector, O'Brien states "This has always been a cyclical industry and it will continue to be a cyclical industry, so periods of over-investment follow periods of under-investment."
On consolidation, O'Neill states, "Well, it's very expensive to do it right now, and if the industry was really inclined toward doing it; Teradyne would have bought LTX Corporation (Nasdaq: LTXX) when it was selling for 15/16 (less than $1.00) back at the bottom of the downturn. On the other hand, the rise of the foundry model and the fabless model has really changed the selling equation."
Maire declares, "Case in point, Motorola (NYSE: MOT) has been a huge semiconductor manufacturer, but there have been all sorts of discussions in the investment community as to whether or not they should hold onto these multi-billion-dollar assets, their fabs, which may not be as productive as putting their money elsewhere. Why not let Taiwan outsource it?"
O'Neill states, "There is one company on the test and assembly side that I would like to highlight that is very highly leveraged to Rambus (Nasdaq: RMBS), and that's a company called Cohu (Nasdaq: COHU), which makes test handlers. They currently have a non-exclusive, nonmarketing agreement with all the major testing companies to supply test handlers for Rambus. They have agreements with Agilent (NYSE: A), Schlumberger (NYSE: SLB), and Teradyne. So if we really do see a Rambus come to fruition here, and heaven knows, we're all keeping our fingers crossed about that, Cohu gets all the business regardless of who gets the tester contract. That's one interesting way to play that."
Offering a recommendation to investors, O'Brien asserts, "We also are fans of KLA (Nasdaq: KLAC) on the process diagnostics segment, and believe that it becomes a bigger and bigger percentage of total spending as we go through the cycle. We think that they're well positioned. Applied will have increased competition over probably the medium term, but in this upturn, as capacity comes on, KLA certainly will be a winner."
"I would also look for some small cap companies that are as yet unnoticed or not fully covered." Maire continues, "One company that is not small cap but more mid-cap is Varian Semiconductor (Nasdaq: VSEA), which was a spinout from a larger company just about a year ago and is now a pure play in the semiconductor equipment space."
Billat names one of her favorite stocks: Rudolph Technologies (Nasdaq: RTEC). "They are a company that measures transparent films and opaque films such as copper. Rudolph is an interesting play because they also are a play on new fabs, where chipmakers tend to buy a disproportionately large amount of metrology and inspection equipment to bring up new processes and new lines as quickly as possible," Billat declares. This 78-page SEMInvest 2000 Special Issue also includes:
2) CEO Interviews. Top management of eighteen Semiconductor Equipment firms examine the outlook for their firm and the sector. Firms include:
Advanced Energy Industries, Applied Materials, ATMI, Cymer, Electro Scientific Industries, Electroglas, GaSonics International, Ibis Technology Corporation, Mattson Technology, Photon Dynamics, PRI Automation, Rudolph Technologies, Semitool, Silicon Valley Group, Tegal Corporation, Teradyne.
To obtain a copy of this insightful 78-page issue call 212-952-7433 or see http://www/twst/com/info73.htm.
The Wall Street Transcript is a premier weekly investment publication interviewing market professionals for serious investors for over 36 years. Available at twst.com |
