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Technology Stocks : Semi Equipment Analysis -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Gottfried who wrote (1871)	2/8/2002 9:11:27 AM
From: Return to Sender	Respond to of 95748

8:55AM : The pre-market tone remains positive. S&P futures at 1082, trade one point above fair value while the Nasdaq 100 pre-market indicator is higher by 13.2 points. Outside of the Sun Microsystems (SUNW) upgrade, there are also a few upgrades in the semiconductor sector worth mentioning. The first is a UBS Warburg upgrade of Texas Instruments (TXN 29.54) to Buy from Hold due to increased margin assumptions. The firm sees higher operating margins and earnings than previously expected saying it had underestimated the manufacturing leverage on cost-of-sales and management's determination to control operating expenses. UBS Warburg sees downside to $25 but 25% upside to new price target of $37. Separately, UBS Warburg is also upgrading National Semiconductor (NSM 25.40) to Buy from Hold and raising its 2002-03 estimates. After a recent company visit, the firm believes NSM will benefit from incremental business in displays and wireless handsets from market-leading customers such as Samsung, Nokia, and Ericsson. As a consequence, it sees 30% potential upside in the shares to $33 price target. 8:57AM Genesis Microchip upped at SoundView on valuation (GNSS) 44.07: Hearing from sources that SoundView is upgrading to STRONG BUY from Buy on view that recent decline in price has created an attractive valuation. 8:46AM Cree extends repurchase program (CREE) 12.92: Co extends its stock repurchase program through January 30, 2003. Under the repurchase program, co has been authorized to repurchase up to 7 mln, of which 2.55 mln have already been repurchased. 8:08AM Texas Instruments upped at UBS Warburg (TXN) 29.54: UBS Warburg upgrades to BUY from Hold due to increased margin assumptions; sees higher operating margins and earnings than previously expected, as firm had underestimated the manufacturing leverage impact on cost-of-sales and mgmt's determination to control operating expenses. Raises 2002 est to $0.21 from $0.16 and 2003 to $0.74 from $0.47; sees downside to $25 but 25% upside to new price target of $37. 7:57AM National Semi upped at UBS Warburg (NSM) 25.40: UBS Warburg upgrades to BUY from Hold and raises 2002-03 ests; after a recent co visit, firm believes that NSM will benefit from incremental business in displays and wireless handsets from mkt-leading customers such as Samsung, Nokia, and Ericsson. Sees 30% potential upside in shares to $33 price target. 7:46AM Veeco tops Q4, lowers guidance for Q1. (VECO) 30.10: Reports Q4 earnings of $0.11 per share, $0.04 better than the Multex consensus. Rev fell 14.4% yr/yr to $97.5 mln vs the $95.3 mln consensus. For Q1, co warns of a loss in the range of $0.04-$0.07 on rev of $70-$75 mln (consensus +$0.09 and $91.56 mln). 7:29AM Micron Tech upped at ABN AMRO (MU) 33.86: ABN AMRO upgrades to BUY from Hold due to a dramatically improved outlook for the DRAM mkt; after DRAM shipments posted their sharpest two-quarter increase on record in 2H01, demand caught up with supply at the end of the year; firm believes the supply/demand balance in DRAM will remain "snug" into 2003. Raises FY02 est to $0.09 from a loss of $0.94 and raises FY03 est to $2.84 from $1.50. 7:27AM Sun Microsystems upped by Merrill; cites strategic shifts (SUNW) 9.22: Merrill Lynch upgrades to long-term BUY from Neutral; cites strategic shifts including: endorsement of Linux, plans to offer blade serves and a blade operating system, a de-emphasis of Solaris in favor of infrastructure software Sun ONE and N1. Merrill maintains its near-term Neutral rating on SUNW. 5:41AM Asian Markets : Nikkei +1.07%, Hang Seng +1.1% -- Asian stocks higher. Japan rallied for the second consecutive session. Banks supported by talk of a government stock fund to ease the pain of cross shareholding unwinds. Hynix led Korean shares higher on hopes of a nearby sale to Micron, while HSBC and China Mobile outperformed in Hong Kong. finance.yahoo.com Looks like lots of stocks will rise at the open today. Bomb threat on a plane in Atlanta will hurt though along with heightened fears associated with the Olympics. RtS