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

To: StanX Long who wrote (47623)	6/6/2001 2:29:44 AM
From: StanX Long	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70976

Xilinx Soothes the Semis By Rick Aristotle Munarriz (TMF Edible) June 5, 2001 Visibility in the topsy-turvy semiconductor sector has been fog-ridden at best. With downward profit revisions chasing earlier downward profit revisions, the question isn't a matter of when there will be a light at the end of the tunnel. It's a matter of whether anyone will be able to see it. Cutting through the thick pessimism, Xilinx (Nasdaq: XLNX) announced that it was comfortable with its April guidance for the June quarter. That kind of consistency is a welcome dose of stability to an industry grasping at anything it can to pivot a turnaround. Last week, Altera (Nasdaq: ALTR) and Integrated Device Technology (Nasdaq: IDTI) had to water down top-line projections for the current quarter. This doesn't mean that all is rose-colored for the programmable logic device maker. Its April forecast called for revenues to fall 15-25% sequentially. However, the fact that it is sticking to that range is important. On a relative basis, it's not too shabby when one considers that Integrated is now looking at a 44% drop-off in sales. It's all part of the cyclical game as Xilinx has to face the famine after feasting on 63% revenue growth this past fiscal year. Now it is down to reporting that delays and order cancellations are slowing. And that's a good thing? Well, it is... relatively speaking. News to Go Next Comverse (Nasdaq: CMVT), better than the last verse. The telecommunications software specialist reported a 40% spike in first-quarter profits, fueled by a bigger slice of market share. Net income came in at $79 million, or $0.43 a share. That was a penny ahead of analyst estimates. Net margins widened for the Israeli company as revenues came in 36% higher at $365 million. Game's over, now shake hands. PlayStation 2 maker Sony (NYSE: SNE) and Dreamcast's Sega announced that they would be teaming up to provide online gaming between the two consoles. With Sega officially bowing out of the hardware market earlier this year, the cross-console announcement isn't as earth-shattering as it could have been. However, while the days are numbered for the discontinued Dreamcast system, it had been able to achieve a staggering 30% penetration in its Japanese home turf by landing 800,000 users for its online gaming service. Sony will be able to milk Sega's platform loyalty and online marketing prowess while the software-bound Sega continues its newfound friendship with the industry's biggest console maker. Liberty, and just divestitures for all. After selling off its annuity subsidiary last month, Liberty Financial (NYSE: L) is getting rid of its asset management business too. FleetBoston Financial (NYSE: FBF) will pay $1 billion in cash and debt for the Liberty segment, which manages $63 billion in assets. Boeing (NYSE: BA), Boeing, Gone! The aerospace titan was awarded a contract to update the cockpit avionics system for the U.S. Air Force's C-130 transport aircraft. With approximately 500 C-130s to redesign, the deal might be worth up to $4 billion for Boeing. Top Gun indeed. Rick Aristotle Munarriz believes that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. So eat up! His breakfast suggestion for today is puff pastry stuffed with condensed milk, sweetened macadamia nut cream, and streusel slivers, drizzled over with warm white chocolate sauce. Rick's stock holdings can be viewed online, as can the Fool's disclosure policy. Editors' Pick