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Technology Stocks : Applied Materials No-Politics Thread (AMAT) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Gottfried who wrote (1636)	7/19/2002 10:18:31 AM
From: Proud_Infidel	Respond to of 25522

Chip sales propel Samsung's record profit By Mike Clendenin EE Times (07/19/02 06:52 a.m. EST) TAIPEI, Taiwan — In tough times, Samsung Electronics turned in its best quarterly showing ever, building on first-quarter momentum and defying the drag that the economic slowdown has inflicted on the global economy. The conglomerate's profit doubled from a year ago to $1.8 billion, on the back of better sales in chips and mobile phones. Best results for Samsung, the world's largest memory maker, came in semiconductors, followed by communications devices, primarily mobile phones. Samsung is now the world's fourth largest handset maker and has carved a niche on high-end, high-margin products by introducing new features, such as color screens, to help differentiate its products. The company is also a major supplier of TFT-LCDs, which are growing in popularity and recovering from price erosion over the past year. In general, the Korea-based firm's strategy of pursuing the higher end of a wide range of products has netted rich returns. For instance, last week Samsung said it was the first to offer a graphics memory based on next-generation DDR II specifications. The 128Mb chip transmits data at 1 gigahertz and higher and is capable of transmitting 4 gigabytes of data per second, making it a good — and high-margin earning — offering for 3D graphics, gaming and network applications. The company plans to start mass production of the chip this quarter. In its release, Samsung did not offer any indication of business prospects for the second half. Many semiconductor companies, such as Intel Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices, are forecasting lackluster sales for the current quarter and a slower than expected recovery. On Friday, Gartner Dataquest took a more conservative view on PC growth in 2002, saying shipments would rise between 2 percent and 4 percent. Its previous estimate called for 5 percent growth. "The market undoubtedly saw the effects of inventory overhang from the first quarter, but at the same time we have yet to see any significant return to corporate buying, and in the consumer market buying appears to have fallen back further in some regions," said Charles Smulders, a PC analyst for Dataquest. "Economic uncertainty continued to undermine business confidence, which has been further compounded in the United States by the Enron and WorldCom MCI accounting scandals," he said. PC shipments have declined for five consecutive quarters.

To: Gottfried who wrote (1636)	7/20/2002 12:50:09 AM
From: Rajiv Hargunani	Respond to of 25522

More of the same, another downgrade today. We must be pretty close to the bottom in the semi stock prices with everybody downgrading it. here is the report investor.cnet.com Adams, Harkness & Hill downgrades the semiconductor capital equipment sector in notes 7/19/02 07/19/02 08:18 AM Source: Unknown Analyst Fred Wolf lowers his ratings on Applied Materials, KLA-Tencor, Novellus Systems and 15 other chip equipment firms to "market perform," saying the decline in their stocks stems from a worsening near-term outlook for corporate IT spending. Wolf cuts his estimate for the capital equipment industry's 2000-2005 compound annual growth from 7.5 percent to 4 percent. He sees no near-term catalyst to lift the stocks and expects them to trade in line with the Nasdaq composite index. Visit the CNET Brokerage Center for daily reports from the top Wall Street analysts. Semiconductor Capital Equipment Downgrading Universe as Momentum Slows * Decline in these stocks over the past two months has been driven by a deteriorating near-term outlook for corporate IT spending, in our view the key to the semiconductor industry recovery. * We are adjusting our peak-to-peak valuation model by lowering the projected capital equipment 2000-2005 industry CAGR from 7.5% to 4.0% to reflect a less robust economic environment. * We are basing ratings and price targets on present value of stocks (discounting peak earnings back three years). Previously we based ratings on 12-month targets (discounting back two years). * We see no near-term catalyst which will drive these stocks higher and expect them to trade in line with the Nasdaq. * We have downgraded the group, with all of the following stocks now rated Market Perform: ADE Corporation (ADEX-$8.80): Was Strong Buy. Target price goes from $15 to $10. Advanced Energy (AEIS-$17.85): Was Buy. Target price goes from $37 to $22. Applied Materials (AMAT-$17.15): Was Buy. Target price goes from $27 to $18. Asyst Technologies (ASYT-$15.51): Was Strong Buy. Target price goes from $27 to $18. ATMI (ATMI-$21.30): Remains Market Perform. Target price goes from $26 to $16. Brooks-PRI Automation (BRKS-$21.00): Was Strong Buy. Target price goes from $52 to $27. Cognex Corporation (CGNX-$16.80): Was Strong Buy. Target price goes from $35 to $20. Cymer, Inc. (CYMI-$31.08): Was Buy. Target price goes from $49 to $37 Entegris, Inc. (ENTG-$11.83): Was Buy. Target price goes from $17 to $12. Helix Technology Corp. (HELX-$16.94): Was Buy. Target price goes from $28 to $20. KLA-Tencor Corp. (KLAC-$43.30): Was Buy. Target price goes from $63 to $37. MKS Instruments (MKSI-$17.65): Was Strong Buy.Target price goes from $33 to $21. Nanometrics (NANO-$11.31): Was Buy. Target price goes from $22 to $12. Novellus Systems (NVLS-$29.95): Was Buy. Target price goes from $53 to $33. Rudolph Technologies (RTEC-$17.90): Was Strong Buy. Target price goes from $36 to $20. Therma-Wave (TWAV-$7.20): Was Strong Buy. Target price goes from $18 to $9. Trikon Technologies (TRKN-$9.11): Was Strong Buy. Target price goes from $17 to $10. Veeco-FEI Instruments, Inc. (VECO-$15.93): Was Buy. Target price goes from $37 to $18. Varian Semi. Equip. Associates (VSEA-$32.85): Was Strong Buy. Target price goes from $71 to $40. Fred Wolf