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

To: Proud_Infidel who wrote (2294)	8/12/2002 1:46:41 PM
From: BWAC	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25522

Now you need to send the same to your Congressman and Senator and State AG. Which topic did you file it under?

To: Proud_Infidel who wrote (2294)	8/12/2002 3:34:51 PM
From: Jeffrey D	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 25522

Hmm, AMAT must be fine tuning their guidance today. This story strongly hints at order decrease on the magnitude of 20%. What is AMATs history of stock buy back programs? No hint in any analysis or story that AMAT will start buying back shares. With all of their cash and the potential of decrease in stock price if there really is a 20% decline in orders they certainly could snap up a bunch of shares. Jeff << By Donna Fuscaldo Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Aided by cost controls, Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT) is expected to report late Tuesday fiscal third-quarter results that will match or possibly beat analysts' forecasts. But there's concern about what the chip equipment maker will say about orders for its fiscal fourth quarter ending in October. Analysts are expecting Applied Material will announce that orders are down 10% to 20% for the quarter on a sequential basis. Going into the first half of the year, chip equipment companies saw a surge in orders, as semiconductor manufacturers geared up for the second half of the year, seasonally the strongest time period for chip sales. Many chip equipment makers posted strong results in the first half of the year, but have since tempered their outlooks for order growth in the latter part of 2002. Semiconductor equipment companies, like companies in other technology equipment industries, have been suffering from sluggish demand made worse by eroding consumer confidence. Some of the world's largest chip makers are cutting capital spending, including Intel Corp. (INTC), Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSM), Motorola Inc. (MOT), and Infineon Technologies AG (IFX). Analysts are predicting tough times ahead for Applied Materials and other chip equipment makers. While sequential order declines of 10% would be in line with forecasts from Applied Materials' peers such as Novellus Systems Inc. (NVLS) and Lam Research Corp. (LRCX), a decline of 20% would be far worse. US Bancorp Piper Jaffray analyst Gregory Konezny, for one, expects a big decline in orders. He expects Applied Materials will announce that orders for the fourth quarter will be down at least 20% sequentially, in part because orders have deteriorated "significantly" in the past few weeks and because the switch to the more advanced 300-milimeter manufacturing process has been slower than expected. In a research report Monday, Konezny wrote that Applied Materials may beat his fiscal third-quarter target of earnings of 4 cents a share and revenue of $1.29 billion. He still rates Applied Materials at strong buy, saying the company's fundamentals will improve over the next few years. Analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call estimate Applied Materials will post third-quarter earnings of 5 cents a share on revenue of $1.28 billion. In the year-ago third quarter, Applied Materials' operating earnings were 5 cents a share on revenue of $1.33 billion. Net income was 3 cents a share. For the most recent quarter, John Pitzer, an analyst at Credit Suisse First Boston Corp., expects Applied Materials will meet or modestly top his earnings estimate of 5 cents a share on revenue of $1.25 billion. Still, Pitzer expects orders for the fourth quarter will fall 20% from the third quarter. He noted, however, that some cushion may be provided by the company's services and flat panel display business. According to the analyst, flat panel display bookings could represent about 25% of Applied Materials' orders in the October quarter. On the more bullish side, Thomas Weisel Partners analyst Kevin Vassily expects Applied Materials' orders will decline 10% sequentially in the October quarter. The analyst, who is calling for Applied Materials to meet or possibly beat the third-quarter consensus, said layoffs are also being considered inside the company. A spokesman at Applied Materials decline to comment, citing a quite period ahead of the company's earnings report. Shares of Applied Materials were recently down 56 cents, or 4%, to $13.30 on Nasdaq volume of 14.5 million, compared with average daily volume of 33.4 million. The stock traded as high as $27.95 in April. -By Donna Fuscaldo, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-5253; donna.fuscaldo@dowjones.com (END) DOW JONES NEWS 08-12-02