To: Jenna who wrote (115516 ) 10/23/2000 7:44:00 PM From: puborectalis Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 120523 NSM stated they 'may' miss the numbers which are still very good....the stock's been crushed,selling now at 6-7x earnings...Halla better have good story tomorrow on CC before the opening........``Some of the handset companies probably slowed down their orders in the last couple of weeks,'' said analyst Tore Svanberg at Robertson Stephens in San Francisco, adding that six of National Semiconductor's top 12 customers are mobile phone makers and that sales to these companies account for about 25 percent of its revenue. Last week Ericsson , confirmed what many had been saying in recent weeks: That there are simply more wireless handsets out there than people who want to buy them. ``For the first time in their history, more telephones are available than demand,'' said Ericsson President Kurt Hellstrom said on Friday in discussing the Swedish company's earnings. Mobile phone maker Motorola Inc. (NYSE:MOT - news) also cited slower-than-projected growth in the mobile phone market when on Oct. 11 it cut earnings estimates for the next years National Semiconductor said sales for the second quarter ending Nov. 26 will be 6 percent to 8 percent below first-quarter sales. National Semiconductor also said that while personal-computer-related orders are stronger, they are still below the company's expectations. ``This is line with what Intel and some of the key PC companies have been saying which is that things haven't picked up as quickly as anticipated,'' Svanberg said. He added that it's still too soon to tell if National Semiconductor's comments regarding its PC business may presage a disappointing fourth quarter for the industry, because National Semiconductor's quarter ends in November. ``This may result in a drop of approximately 2.5 percentage points in gross margin from the 53 percent in the first quarter and a corresponding decline in earnings per share on unchanged operating expenses from the company's previous outlook,'' National Semiconductor said in a statement. Analysts forecast the company to earn 77 cents a share in the first quarter, according to First Call/Thomson Financial.All 15 analysts tracking the stock rate it either a "buy" or "strong buy."