Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Jabil Circuit (JBL) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Asymmetric who wrote (5906)	1/22/2002 5:25:38 AM
From: Asymmetric	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6317

Jabil Circuit eyes long road to success in Japan Wednesday January 16, 4:31 am Eastern Time TOKYO, Jan 16 (Reuters) - U.S.-based contract electronics maker Jabil Circuit said on Wednesday it was prepared for a long journey before finding success in the potentially huge Japanese market, where rivals who arrived earlier have scored major deals. ``Japanese business decisions are not made overnight. They take time to cultivate,'' Rick Evans, VP of Jabil's Asia Pacific business development, told a news conference. ``We are committed to being here and in fact I'd like to have been here a little bit sooner.'' Evans said the Japanese market has substantial room for growth as manufacturers, battered by Japan's extended economic slump and urgently needing to bolster competitiveness, seek to cut costs by farming out production to providers of electronics manufacturing services (EMS) such as Jabil. ``Top Japanese OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) such as NEC and Sony are leading the way inside Japan and the pace is increasing at home and abroad,'' Evans said. ``We estimate these OEMs should outsource as much as 30 percent of their total manufacturing requirements over the next five years.'' Earlier this month, Celestica Inc (CLS), the world's third-largest EMS firm, said it signed a five-year supply agreement with NEC Corp worth $2.5 billion in revenues. Celestica will buy two NEC telecommunications equipment plants in Japan and take on 1,200 of the electronic conglomerate's workers. NEC also announced a deal in October to lease a computer server and workstation plant to Solectron Corp (NYSE:SLR - news), the world's biggest EMS firm. Solectron also struck a deal in 2000 to take over Sony Corp plants in Japan and Taiwan. Jabil opened an office in Tokyo in February 2001 and on Wednesday appointed two top executives for its operations in Japan, including a former NEC official. Despite its potential, the global EMS market has been hit hard over the past year by a pullback in corporate capital spending. Last month, Jabil said its quarterly earnings fell more than 80 percent as orders from computer and telecoms companies stalled. Jabil Seeking to Buy Equipment Plants in Japan (Update1) By Minoru Matsutani 01/17 02:58 Tokyo, Jan. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Jabil Circuit, which builds electronic equipment for brand-name companies, has held talks to buy factories in Japan that make products such as optical telecommunications equipment, medical gear and digital consumer electronics, an executive said. ``We've been shopping,'' said Rick Evans, vice president in charge of Asia Pacific business at St. Petersburg, Florida-based Jabil. ``Yesterday would be a good answer'' to the question when Jabil wants to obtain plants in Japan, he said. Jabil, which currently has no factories in the country, wants to acquire manufacturing capacity in the world's second-largest economy to be closer to potential customers and gain technology and manufacturing know-how, Evans said. Though Japan is one of the most expensive countries in terms of wages and operation costs, Jabil would benefit by obtaining the customers from the companies whose factories it buys. ``There are a lot of reasons for us to be in Japan,'' Evans said. Japanese manufacturers lead the world in the production of goods such as ``communications products, medical equipment and automotive products,'' he added. Losses Jabil may have plenty of opportunities to buy factories because Japanese makers, most of which will lose money in the year ending March 31, want to cut costs, analysts said. ``Japanese electronics makers such as NEC Corp. and Toshiba Corp. are likely to sell some of their domestic plants,'' said Yoshihide Ohtake, an electronics analyst at Tsubasa Research Institute Ltd. Jabil would not be the first so-called contract manufacturer to buy a factory in Japan. With the economy in its third recession in a decade, Japanese manufacturers have shed unprofitable businesses and assets such as factories. Milpitas, California-based Solectron Corp., the biggest maker of electronics for other companies, bought a plant in Miyagi prefecture, northern Japan, that makes automotive electronics such as car navigators and car audio systems from Sony Corp. Toronto-based Celestica Inc. this month said it will buy two plants used to make communications equipment from NEC Corp., the third-largest chipmaker. Contract manufacturers such as Solectron and Flextronics International Ltd. make computers, mobile phones and phone gear for companies such as Cisco Systems Inc., Nokia Oyj, Ericsson AB and Alcatel SA.

To: Asymmetric who wrote (5906)	1/23/2002 1:11:07 AM
From: Asymmetric	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6317

Underwhelmed by the Recovery By Aaron L. Task Senior Writer-Street.Com 01/22/2002 05:38 PM EST Evidence is mounting that the long-awaited economic recovery is at hand, as discussed in today's Midday Musings. But while the economy's pending recovery brought hope to investors in the fourth quarter, its presumptive arrival has them heading for the exits. In a nutshell, market sentiment has transitioned from "the economy is going to recover, hooray!" to "the recovery is here, uh-oh." The large-scale example of "buy the rumor, sell the news" continued today as a stronger-than-expected report on the Conference Board's index of leading economic indicators failed to inspire much buying. Even attempts to put a positive spin on Fed Chairman Greenspan's recent speech proved insufficient to stop the market's recent downturn. Instead, investors fretted that equity valuations are overly extended for a recovery that seems likely to be modest, helping send the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.6%, the S&P 500 down 0.7%, and the Nasdaq Composite lower by 2.5% to its lowest close since Nov. 21. Now that the recovery is apparently at hand, rather than some mythical future occurrence, investors are being forced to ponder whether it will be strong enough to justify the relatively high price-to-earnings ratios of many stocks. A growing consensus is that it will fail to be. Some believe that low interest rates and prospects for improved corporate profits justify higher-than-average P/Es. To these investors, a muted economic recovery means 2002 will be only a modestly positive year for stocks -- say, with major averages rising 5% to 10%. But to others, the combination of a muted recovery and higher-than-average P/Es augurs danger for those long stocks. "Except for some restocking of inventory, we think there is a profound lack of visible revenue growth engines for the U.S. economy," commented Douglas Cliggott, J.P. Morgan's market strategist. As have many others, Cliggott argued that it is unlikely consumer spending will accelerate this year after remaining remarkably strong throughout the recession. Simultaneously, he noted business spending on software and computer equipment remains moribund while markets for exporters remain weak. Given that backdrop -- and the fact consensus expectations are for year-over-year S&P 500 earnings growth of 8% in the second quarter and 24% in the third quarter -- "we see a high probability of very large negative [earnings per share] revisions" this year, the strategist wrote. Cliggott, who admitted being overly skeptical about prospects for fourth-quarter earnings, is one of the few mainstream market-watchers forecasting 2002 will be another down year for major averages. "Given the current mix of historically high P/E multiples on very ambitious EPS estimates, we think the S&P 500 will decline again this year," he wrote. Few on Wall Street agree with him, but many are now beginning to question the rosy 2002 forecasts offered by other strategists.