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Politics : Formerly About Applied Materials -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Gottfried who wrote (64987)	7/22/2002 11:46:22 PM
From: Return to Sender	Respond to of 70976

Applied Materials says options changes could backfire biz.yahoo.com By Daniel Sorid (recasts, adds CEO comment, trade group forecast details) NEW YORK, July 22 (Reuters) - The head of the world's largest maker of semiconductor equipment said on Monday calls for changing accounting rules to require companies to count the cost of stock options as an expense could backfire on the economy. "I think to tinker with that just because there's been some abuse I think may do more harm than good," Applied Materials Inc. (Nasdaq:AMAT - News) Chief Executive James Morgan told Reuters in an interview. "There's been a lot of profits and jobs and opportunities generated from the stock option process." He said Applied Material's use of stock options has worked well for both employees and shareholders. The top five executives at the company hold about 3 percent of the total options granted, he said, with the remainder spread among the broad employee base. There has been speculation on Wall Street that companies may soon be required to treat options -- used heavily by technology companies to lure new workers and give them incentives to work hard -- as an expense like any other. Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE:KO - News), earlier this month, said it would begin to expense the cost of stock options beginning in the fourth quarter. Such moves have been praised by billionaire investor Warren Buffett and others who say options have hid from investors the true cost of employee compensation. Applied Materials has suffered along with the rest of the industry as corporate spending on technology lagged. The company has called 2002 a transition year, and is banking on hopes that results from its hefty research and development budget will pay off when capital spending improves. "As companies get some confidence, one of their first investments will be information technology infrastructure," Morgan said. He pointed to an array of consumer electronics that will utilize more powerful chips to allow such tasks as high-speed communication and more powerful computing. Morgan also said a trade group's forecast for 29 percent industry sales growth next year should be suitable, as pressure builds on companies to upgrade aging computers. "Don't forget there's been a couple year drought, so we don't see any reason why it wouldn't be appropriate," he said, referring to the group's forecast. Earlier this month, the group Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International published a forecast for the industry, which builds the tools that create, test and assemble microchips. Following what has thus far been a dreadful year for chip equipment makers, the trade group released a forecast that said industry sales were expected to grow 29 percent in 2003 to $29.5 billion, and 23 percent in 2004 to $36.2 billion. Morgan said growth could come from an array of consumer electronics as well as pent-up corporate demand for new personal computers to replace ageing machines bought during concerns about the Year 2000 computer bug. "Almost every CEO I talk to has the same challenges," Morgan said. "The new applications of video, voice and data -- which increase your productivity substantially -- are really putting pressure on technology infrastructure." Chief Financial Officer Joseph Bronson also said he believed the company was at the right size for the current diminished level of business, and added the company would not stray from its focus on the bottom line. "We're prepared to do whatever we need to keep putting up some decent numbers irrespective of where the business goes," he said. Applied Materials will report earnings for its fiscal third quarter on August 13. The company declined on Monday to update its business projections for the quarter.

To: Gottfried who wrote (64987)	7/23/2002 12:58:00 AM
From: Paul V.	Respond to of 70976

Gottfried and threaders, 28 of 41 sectors below the 32% oversold area. Only one sector above the overbought area, 68% up. Banks and real estate finally break down. Just my opinions for the DW data I receive. Paul Changes Changes 7/16/02 7/22/02 10week 14 10week 10 30nyse 26 30nyse 18 30OTC 24 30OTC 18 bpaero 28 bpaero 24 bpauto 32 bpauto 24 bpbank 76 bpbank 66 bpbiom 18 bpbiom 20 bpbuil 40 bpbuil 28 bpbusi 32 bpbusi 22 bpchem 44 bpchem 32 BPCOMP 22 BPCOMP 22 bpdrug 14 bpdrug 14 bpelec 18 bpelec 18 bpeuro bpeuro bpeuti 30 bpeuti 24 bpfina 42 bpfina 40 bpfood 44 bpfood 34 bpfore 48 bpfore 34 bpgame 30 bpgame 22 bpguti 44 bpguti 28 bpheal 20 bpheal 20 bphous 38 bphous 28 bpinet 16 bpinet 16 bpinsu 38 bpinsu 28 bplati 34 bplati 34 bpleis 38 bpleis 14 bpmach 24 bpmach 22 bpmedi 22 bpmedi 20 bpmeta 50 bpmeta 38 bpnyse 38 bpnyse 32 bpoil 36 bpoil 32 bpoils 36 bpoils 28 bpopti 24 bpopti 22 bpotc 30 bpotc 28 bpprec 66 bpprec 46 bpprot 38 bpprot 32 bpreal 72 bpreal 64 bprest 42 bprest 36 bpreta 28 bpreta 20 bpsavi 84 bpsavi 82 BPSEMI 24 BPSEMI 24 bpsoft 18 bpsoft 16 bpstee 40 bpstee 30 BPTELE 12 BPTELE 12 bptext 48 bptext 38 bptran 50 bptran 34 bpwall 16 bpwall 12 bpwast 36 bpwast 32 HLnyse 30 HLnyse 20 HLotc 24 HLotc 14 twotc 16 twotc 10 Changes Changes 7/16/02 7/23/02 bpeuro bpeuro bpsavi 84 bpsavi 82 bpbank 76 bpbank 66 bpreal 72 bpreal 64 bpprec 66 bpprec 46 bptran 50 bpfina 40 bpmeta 50 bptext 38 bptext 48 bpmeta 38 bpfore 48 bprest 36 bpguti 44 bptran 34 bpfood 44 bplati 34 bpchem 44 bpfore 34 bprest 42 bpfood 34 bpfina 42 bpwast 32 bpstee 40 bpprot 32 bpbuil 40 bpoil 32 bpprot 38 bpnyse 32 bpnyse 38 bpchem 32 bpleis 38 bpstee 30 bpinsu 38 bpotc 28 bphous 38 bpoils 28 bpwast 36 bpinsu 28 bpoils 36 bphous 28 bpoil 36 bpguti 28 bplati 34 bpbuil 28 bpbusi 32 BPSEMI 24 bpauto 32 bpeuti 24 HLnyse 30 bpauto 24 bpotc 30 bpaero 24 bpgame 30 bpopti 22 bpeuti 30 bpmach 22 bpreta 28 bpgame 22 bpaero 28 BPCOMP 22 30nyse 26 bpbusi 22 HLotc 24 HLnyse 20 BPSEMI 24 bpreta 20 bpopti 24 bpmedi 20 bpmach 24 bpheal 20 30OTC 24 bpbiom 20 bpmedi 22 bpelec 18 BPCOMP 22 30OTC 18 bpheal 20 30nyse 18 bpsoft 18 bpsoft 16 bpelec 18 bpinet 16 bpbiom 18 HLotc 14 twotc 16 bpleis 14 bpwall 16 bpdrug 14 bpinet 16 bpwall 12 bpdrug 14 BPTELE 12 10week 14 twotc 10 BPTELE 12 10week 10 20bonds 101.8 20bonds 101.8

To: Gottfried who wrote (64987)	7/23/2002 8:40:42 AM
From: michael97123	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70976

Gottfried, Being a boomer and having just experienced this 2.5 year crash i have to remember to lighten up after the prayed for summer rally. Baby boomer demographics argument has changed forever. Boomers will be more cautious because of what happened and younger investors either will be gun shy or have already lost their money. Now real estate is the place to be for them. This must be the basis of zeevs secular bear market he talks about. On the cyclical side, huge amounts of cash on the side, hedge funds turning bullish, short covering by nervous shorts at some point soon i hope, Greenspan dollar flood and perhaps a dramatic rate cut in here, devalued dollar leading to higher exports, rising unemployment and workers with no pricing power yielding higher productivity, massive govt IT spending followed by private sector spending to replace y2k stuff next year---THIS IS A POWERFUL BULLISH ARGUMENT FOLKS that could overwhelm the secular bear into the early part of next year. mike