Don I totally agree. Maybe I am part of the so called dumb money but I now am nearly as fully invested as I have been in months. Currently I am holding shares of AMAT.
Why hold this stock when it is so near a 52 week high? Because we are still early in a cyclical upturn. Also as a shareholder of record on Monday I will be receiving my 2 for 1 stock dividend on April 16.
I am also holding semi equipment stock CREE which recently signed that interesting contract with the government concerning anthrax and bioterrorism discovery.
I also just bought some MU on Friday which as one of the lowest PE/G members of the SOX could be expected really perform well going into next year.
In addition I have TQNT to take advantage of what I expect will be a huge ramp up in demand as 3G services finally take hold in the next few years.
I also have a position in highly profitable ESST which is the leading DVD and VCD chip supplier.
Finally I have moved back into the contract manufacturing space with still nicely profitable JBL. And most recently SLR which due to contracts with LU, MSFT and JNPR among others may surprise investors with a great deal of upside soon.
Here is the latest on SLR:
Lucent in 3-Yr Deal with Solectron
biz.yahoo.com
By Siobhan Kennedy
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Telecommunications equipment company Lucent Technologies Inc. (LU - news) said on Thursday it chose Solectron Corp. (SLR - news) to manufacture optical gear used in moving data over the Internet in a deal that could be worth $2 billion.
Under the anticipated deal, Lucent said it was selling equipment and inventory at its manufacturing operations in North Andover, Massachusetts, to Solectron, a leading contract manufacturer of electronic equipment, for $125 million.
Solectron shares gained more than 11 percent, or 80 cents, to close at $7.80. Lucent closed up almost 9 percent, or 39 cents, at $4.73. Lucent was the most actively traded stock and Solectron was among the most active in a light session on the New York Stock Exchange.
``We believe the deal ... could add close to $150 million in incremental revenue to Solectron's fourth-quarter,'' Bear Stearns said in a research note to clients, adding that $125 million was half of what Solectron had estimated it would pay for Lucent's equipment and inventory originally.
``This is no surprise at all, we've been expecting this for several months now,'' said Gary Nilsson, a secretary for the Communication Workers of America, the union representing Lucent's workers at its North Andover Plant.
Battered telecom equipment maker Lucent has been slashing its work force, selling plants, discontinuing money-losing products and selling noncore businesses in an effort to return to profitability by making itself into a smaller, more nimble supplier focused on the largest telephone carriers.
Last month Lucent surprised Wall Street by cutting its quarterly revenue forecast and said its return to profitability would be delayed until its 2003 fiscal year, which begins in October, as U.S. phone companies continue to cut back on spending.
As part of the agreement, expected to close in Lucent's fiscal third quarter, ending in June, Solectron will supply Lucent with optical components used to make Lucent's Lambda and WaveStar optical network products for the next 3 years.
Solectron will also take over repair of the products and manage Lucent's dealings with its other optical equipment suppliers, it said. It added that it plans to lease Lucent's factory facility until a full transfer to other Solectron sites can take place.
The deal follows a similar manufacturing agreement Lucent struck with contract manufacturer Celestica Inc. (CLS - news) last September. At the time, it turned over its data switching operations in Oklahoma and its wireless operations in Columbus, Ohio.
DEAL PLANNED
About 1,600 employees are involved in manufacturing at Lucent's North Andover plant, the company said on Thursday. Of those, about 400 are already due to leave Lucent on March 31 under an early retirement plan and about 500 will be moved to another Lucent systems integration facility, the company said.
In addition, 538 employees will transfer to A-Plus Manufacturing, a Solectron company, Solectron said. It said, however, that 250 of those employees would be employed on a temporary basis for the next couple of months only.
Solectron also said it was considering employing about 100 other engineering and supervisory staff.
In February, union officials representing hourly workers at the Lucent plant said they were in formal bargaining discussions with Solectron regarding a labor contract.
``This is the final hammer,'' Nilsson said, adding that the deal with Solectron, plus the contracts signed with Celestica last September, marked the end of Lucent's manufacturing days.
``It's really ironic because when it was established and spun off from AT&T Corp. (T - news), Lucent's sole purpose in life was to a be manufacturer of telecommunications equipment,'' Nilsson said. ``Now they're going to buy all parts from someone else.''
In addition to the 1,600 involved in manufacturing, about 1,200 people from other Lucent units work at the North Andover plant, Lucent said. It said those employees, as well as those who are part of its nearby systems integration center, will remain at the facility until a final decision is made about the building.
The deal is the third such agreement Milpitas, California-based Solectron has signed this week.
Earlier, the company announced a deal to provide repair services for Microsoft Corp.'s (MSFT - news) Xbox video game console in Asia. It also said it won a contract to manufacture cable modem systems for Juniper Networks Inc.(JNPR - news) in the United States.
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