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

To: Jerome who wrote (2010)	8/2/2002 8:13:09 AM
From: Proud_Infidel	Respond to of 25522

WRAP:Tokyo Electron 1st Quarter Loss Widens, Cuts Full Year Outlook TOKYO -(Dow Jones)- Tokyo Electron Ltd (TKE - News) . (J.TKE or 8035) said Friday its April- June group net loss widened from the same period last year due to weak global sales of semiconductor-manufacturing equipment. The world's second biggest chip-making equipment maker also revised downward its full-year earnings forecast for the year to March 2003 despite lifting its outlook for the first half of the year. Tokyo Electron posted a group net loss of Y4.17 billion for the quarter ended June, compared with a Y3.51 billion net loss in the same period a year ago. Group sales during the quarter shrank 21% to Y92.3 billion, while it posted an operating loss of Y6.14 billion, reversing a Y586 million operating profit in the same quarter a year ago. Sales in the chip-making equipment division, which accounted for nearly 80% of the quarter's overall sales, dropped 22% to Y71.3 billion. The division's sales in the U.S . plunged 55% on year, the largest fall by region, to Y9.3 billion. Sales of chip-making equipment in Europe dropped 39% on-year and that in Japan slipped 33%, while sales in South Korea fell 9% and Taiwan sales declined 13%. Profit margins deteriorated in the quarter as the ratio of operating profit to sales fell to 28.2% from 32.7%. "Demand to lower prices from our customers remains fairly strong," said Noriyuki Kuga, vice president of Tokyo Electron's accounting department. Equipment Orders Top Y100B 1st Time In 6 Qtrs Though sales dropped on year, orders for chip-making equipment continued to rise after bottoming in the quarter ended December 2001 . Tokyo Electron received Y131.4 billion in gross orders for chip-making equipment in the April-June quarter, up 61% from the same quarter last year. It was the first time in six quarters that orders exceeded Y100 billion. The Y131.4 billion figure beat the company's initial expectations of about Y100 billion. "We believe the semiconductor market is gradually recovering," Kuga said. Goldman Sachs Shin Horie also said the gross order figure exceeded the brokerage's expectations of Y120 billion-Y130 billion. He attributed the strong sales to robust demand in Japan , the U.S . and China . Cuts Full Year Outlook; Weaker Sales In Asia Tokyo Electron now expects a narrower group net loss of Y3.0 billion for the first half through September, compared with the Y4.8 billion loss estimated in May thanks to stronger-than-expected sales in the U.S ., Europe and China . The group sales outlook for the half was raised to Y215.5 billion from Y210.5 billion. However, the company views the second half with caution, revising downward its outlook for the full year through March. "Uncertainty surrounding the global economy is growing" due to a plunge in U.S . stocks and fluctuation in foreign exchange rates, Kuga said. He said the downgrade is also due to a reduction in planned capital spending by the world's largest contract chip maker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co . . TSMC said in late July it now plans capital expenditures of under US$ 2 billion this year, short of its previous estimate of US$2.5 billion. Tokyo Electron cut its group net profit outlook for the full year to Y2 billion from the Y3 billion forecast in May. Its group sales outlook was reduced to Y453 billion from Y463 billion. The company cut its estimates for sales of chip-making equipment throughout Asia: from Y84 billion to Y79 billion in Japan ; from Y46 billion to Y42 billion in South Korea ; and from Y90 billion to Y86 billion in Taiwan . 2H Equipment Orders Revised Downward Tokyo Electron expects July-September gross orders for chip-making equipment of about Y100 billion, the same as its earlier estimate. However, the company anticipates gross orders for equipment to remain slightly below Y100 billion in each quarter of the second half to March, a downgrade from its initial expectations of around Y100 billion. Tokyo Electron views the weak orders as a correction to the surprisingly strong orders in the January-March and April-June periods. "Orders we received in the April-June period probably included those which were brought forward," said Kazuya Nanbu, vice president of the company's investor relations department. In Friday trade on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, Tokyo Electron's shares finished 3.9% lower at Y5,620, while the benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average finished down 0.9%.