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Strategies & Market Trends : Steve's Channelling Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Alex MG who wrote (17362)	6/8/2001 1:22:16 AM
From: Sully-	Respond to of 30051

No news is good news by Michelle Rushlo June 08, 2001 Computer chipmakers finally gave investors reason to cheer -- or at least, reason to sigh with relief -- this week. The past couple of weeks have been marked by warnings from Altera (ALTR) and Atmel (ATML), but this week was decidedly less negative. Intel (INTC), Xilinx (XLNX) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) all reassured investors they are on track to meet earlier guidance for the quarter. Meanwhile, the Semiconductor Industry Association conceded 2001 would be a sorry year but projected Wednesday an estimated 14 percent compounding annual growth rate through 2004. Investors awarded the Computing Components segment of the Upside.com 150 index by running up the 15 chip and chip equipment stocks in that sector this week. The darker side Of course, the news wasn't totally rosy. In its earnings reassurance, Xilinx said order cancellations and delays have fallen, which "doesn't mean things are getting better necessarily," points out WitSoundview analyst Chris Caso. And Intel said demand would get seasonally better in the second half of the year thanks to school and holiday purchases -- something that is generally true even in the ugliest years. "We're not quite out of the woods yet," said Ashok Kumar, an analyst with U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray. "The macro environment is still very negative." He predicts the recovery will look more like a "W," with the market rebounding seasonally but falling again before real demand rises. Sleep well All that said, however, semiconductors may have at least found a bottom to bump along for now. While it's not clear when underlying demand will recover, Caso said it does not appear things are getting significantly worse for semiconductor makers. As Intel Chief Financial Officer Andy Bryant put it in his confernce call with analysts, "If you asked me how much sleep I'm losing over whether we can stay above the low end of the [revenue range], I'm not losing any sleep at all." After the recent roller coaster, that ought to help a lot of investors get a better night's sleep. OTHER BIG CAP NEWS THIS WEEK: If you can't beat 'em, join 'em Storage rivals EMC (EMC), IBM (IBM), Hitachi (HIT) and Compaq Computer (CPQ) formed an alliance this week to make their products work together when used in one of two configurations from Brocade Communications Systems (BRCD) and McData (MCDT). The storage makers also agreed to help service mutual customers when they have problems with hetergenous data storage systems. (See "Storage companies agree to work together.") Silence is golden To the surprise of some investors and industry watchers, Oracle (ORCL) didn't say anything this week about its just-completed fourth quarter. That's buoyed hopes that when it announces results on June 18, the world's second largest software maker will have met earnings expectations. (See "Is Oracle out of the woods?") Slow everywhere Hewlett-Packard (HWP) Chief Executive Officer Carly Fiorina told analysts on Wednesday the slowdown in IT spending has gone global and that the softness may last for some time. (See "HP warns of global slowdown.") Meanwhile, HP agreed to pay $400 million to Pitney Bowes (PBI) to settle a patent dispute dating back to 1995 over print technology. Neither side admitted wrongdoing. Plus one Microsoft (MSFT) has added a Harvard Business School professor to its board of directors. James I. Cash Jr., regarded as an expert on the role of IT in corporations, joins seven other board members. upside.com Ö¿Ö