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Politics : Formerly About Applied Materials -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: tombet who wrote (35072)	5/5/2000 5:06:00 PM
From: Mark Duper	Respond to of 70976

Analyst plugs lift Applied Materials Shares jump 4% ahead of earnings report next week By Cecily Fraser, CBS MarketWatch Last Update: 4:27 PM ET May 5, 2000 NewsWatch SANTA CLARA, Calif. (CBS.MW) ? Applied Materials? stock marched 4 percent higher Friday amid growing confidence that the chip-equipment maker is likely to beat analyst?s second-quarter earnings expectations. Today on CBS MarketWatch Stocks gain in late trading KPN, Telefonica merger called off Jobless rate slips to 3.9 percent IPOs: Offerings ride market surge Due Diligence: LaBranche More top stories... CBS MarketWatch Columns Updated: 5/5/2000 4:20:12 PM ET The upbeat mood was triggered by positive calls from the brokerage houses SG Cowen and Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, which both reiterated ?strong buy? ratings in advance of the company?s earnings report due out next Wednesday. The consensus estimate, compiled by First Call Corp., is 55 cents a share. Morgan Stanley?s Jay Deahna said in a research note he sees earnings per share of 54 cents, with ?meaningful upside potential.? Analyst Tia-Min Pang at SG Cowen is forecasting a profit of 55 cents on sales of $2.1 billion, with upside to $2.5 billion. Orders -- a key sign of sales growth ? are expected to rise 25 percent to 30 percent quarter over quarter, according to Pang. That would put bookings close to $3 billion, the analyst said. Applied, like other makers of semiconductor manufacturing equipment, has experienced an uptick in order growth as customers accelerated their capital spending for expanded capacity and more advanced technologies amid demand for applications in telecommunication, Internet-related and consumer products. ?Since the beginning of this year, the total in our global database on estimated capital spending has increased to $52 billion from $42 billion, suggesting a rise in bookings momentum,? said Deahna. Applied (AMAT: news, msgs) announced Friday that the company received an order worth more than $100 million from 1st Silicon (Malaysia). The order was placed in Applied Materials' first and second fiscal quarters of 2000, and system shipments are expected to begin in May 2000, the company said. See press release. Shares jumped 4 1/8 to 101 7/8. Still, the stock is off about 12 percent from its high of 115, reached in early April amid the downturn of numerous chip-related issues recently.