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Strategies & Market Trends : Technical analysis for shorts & longs -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Johnny Canuck who wrote (36465)	3/16/2002 8:53:05 PM
From: Johnny Canuck	Respond to of 68070

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13, 2002 8:48AM Morgan lowers slew of chip equip. makers (KLAC, LRCX, NVLS, TER, VSEA, AMAT, LTXX) by Julie Rannazzisi Morgan Stanley lowered its rating on a slew of chip equipment companies, citing too-high valuations. The firm said it remains bullish on the semi equipment sector but that it's "easing off the gas." Morgan analyst Steven Pelayo said positive newsflow is coming, as it expects most of the companies in the group to meet or beat first-quarter revenue and earnings-per-share estimates and raise their outlook. But he said valuations are a bit ahead of themselves this early in the cycle -- near 1995 and 1997 cyclical peaks -- as equipment stocks have doubled off the bottom since early October. Morgan lowered its view on the following companies to an "outperform" from a "strong buy:" Axcelis Technologies (ACLS), KLA-Tencor (KLAC), Lam Research (LRCX), LTX Corp. (LTXX), Novellus Systems (NVLS), Teradyne (TER) and Varian Semi (VSEA). But Morgan maintained a "strong buy" rating on bellwether Applied Materials (AMAT) as well as on Cymer (CYMI) and ASML Holdings (ASML). "In order to see some continued momentum, we will have to begin to see more solid signs that end market demand is on the rise. Since bookings are just beginning to rise, the strong advance in equipment stocks may be too much too soon. We believe the 'pause that refreshes' would be more healthy for the group, at least as visibility in the slope of the recovery improves," Morgan told clients The firm predicts that the peak of the next cycle will arrive in 2004.