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

To: Fred Levine who wrote (35855)	7/21/2000 5:59:59 PM
From: Fred Levine	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 70976

From Merrill Lynch... Investment Highlights: • The semiconductor capital equipment book-to-bill for the US preliminary results came out at 1.26 down slightly from 1.28 in May. The ratio declined more from an acceleration in shipments than from slowing orders. • Overall orders grew 1% month to month and 17% quarter to quarter. Shipments slowed to 3% growth month to month but grew 28% quarter to quarter versus 9% growth in the first quarter. • Front-end (AMAT, KLAC, LRCX, NVLS …) orders were strongest up 5% month to month for an increase in book-to-bill from 1.28 to 1.32. Front end orders actually accelerated from 2% growth in May. Front-end orders growth rate also increased year over year from 76% in May to 83% in June. • Back-end (TER, KLIC, CMOS …) orders were down 10% month to month for a book-to-bill decrease from 1.28 to 1.09. This was in-line with Teradyne’s recent results of a book-to-bill of 1.09. • The slowing in overall order rates has been well expected as month to month and quarter to quarter comparison have become much more difficult. Investors should be aware that the absolute trend of orders is a much stronger indicator of stock direction than changes in growth rates. The stocks have taken a significant correction with the average P/E dropping to l8x 2001 from the peak of 30x at the end of the first quarter. We believe this presents a buying opportunity as the outlook is for continued order growth in the second half and beyond. Bulletin United States Semiconductor Capital Equipment 21 July 2000 Brett Hodess Samuel Wilson Sameer Desai Semiconductor Capital Equipment June Book to Bill at 1.26, Order increase 17% quarter/quarter Reason for Report: Analysis of Monthly Book to Bill Results Merrill Lynch & Co. Global Securities Research & Economics Group Global Fundamental Equity Research Department RC#10220302 Industry fred