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Technology Stocks : Semi Equipment Analysis -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Alastair McIntosh who wrote (6521)	10/29/2002 9:00:51 AM
From: Return to Sender	Respond to of 95541

Stocks Are Seen Edging Down at the Open Tuesday October 29, 8:52 am ET By Denise Duclaux biz.yahoo.com NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks are seen inching lower at Tuesday's open, with investors searching for direction as the earnings season winds down after hoisting the market higher for three weeks in a row. "We have seen a market that has surpassed drastically reduced expectations," said Bryan Piskorowski, a market commentator at Prudential Securities. "Earnings season has brought us from oversold to overbought, and now we are being forced to justify the run." Roughly three-quarters of the Standard & Poor's 500 companies have posted their third-quarter earnings -- and more than half of those have topped Wall Street's lowered estimates. The better-than-expected earnings have fueled a turnaround in the market and lifted the broad Standard & Poor's 500 index 11 percent off five-year lows hit on Oct. 9. But the pace of earnings reports is slowing on Wall Street, and worries over the economy linger. A slew of data this week -- including advanced gross domestic product (GDP) for the third quarter, October unemployment statistics and the Conference Board's consumer confidence reading -- could shed more light on the state of the economic recovery. Data on consumer confidence is slated for 10 a.m. EST (1500 GMT) on Tuesday. Private research group The Conference Board's index is seen slipping for a fifth straight month to 89.7 in October from 93.3 in September. Consumer confidence is particularly important to investors since consumer spending underpins about two-thirds of the nation's economy. "A lot of the direction will depend upon the consumer confidence numbers," said Bill Strazzullo, market strategist with State Street Global Markets. "The consumer is the linchpin to the recovery. We will have a good sense later this morning on how confident the consumer is about the economy." Equity futures pointed to a slightly lower open after stocks had slumped on Monday. S&P 500 futures for December lost 3.30 points to 888.50. Dow Jones industrial futures eased 33 points to 8,345, while Nasdaq 100 index futures for December eased 5 to 982. The Nasdaq 100 pre-market indicator eased 0.30 percent. Dow component Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE:PG - News) could offer some support to the blue-chip Dow in the early going. The consumer products giant before the open said quarterly profit rose as it has been helped by strong performance of products like Crest Spinbrush and its Actonel osteoporosis drug. Shares rose to $87.50 on Instinet after ending at $85.75. In other corporate news, telephone company Qwest Communications International Inc. (NYSE:Q - News), which faces federal and criminal probes of its accounting, said on Monday after the close it may take charges of up to $40.8 billion to write down the value of its goodwill and network assets. AOL Time Warner's (NYSE:AOL - News) chairman Steve Case has suggested to senior executives that the company could spin off its America Online unit, the Wall Street Journal reported in its online edition on Tuesday. A spokesman for the company told the newspaper, "there are no plans to spin off AOL and there are no serious discussions to do so." Tenet Healthcare Corp. (NYSE:THC - News), the No. 2 largest U.S. hospital chain, on Monday after the close reiterated its fiscal 2003 outlook that its earnings per share growth would exceed 25 percent. Credit card issuer Providian Financial Corp. (NYSE:PVN - News) on Monday after the close reported lower quarterly profits as it saw the value of bad loans and uncollectable charges rise. Omnicom Group (NYSE:OMC - News), the world's third-largest advertising company, said on Tuesday before the open its third-quarter earnings rose 11 percent boosted by domestic growth in the advertising sector. Stocks had slumped on Monday, pulling back from a three-week rally, as investors worried this week's economic data could signal U.S. growth remains weak. The Dow Jones industrial average (CBOT:^DJI - News) dropped 75.95 points, or 0.90 percent, to 8,368.04. The S&P 500 (CBOE:^SPX - News) slipped 7.42 points, or 0.83 percent, to 890.23. The technology-laced Nasdaq Composite Index (NasdaqSC:^IXIC - News) dropped 15.30 points, or 1.15 percent, to 1,315.83. Support -- where buyers are expected to swoop in -- is at 1,280 for the Nasdaq, 8,200 for the Dow and 880 for the S&P 500, according to research firm Schaeffer's Investment Research. Resistance -- the point where sellers are likely to emerge -- is at 1,350 for the Nasdaq, 8,550 for the Dow and 910 for the S&P. The levels are key elements of technical analysis, which studies prices, volume and charts.

To: Alastair McIntosh who wrote (6521)	10/29/2002 4:31:56 PM
From: Donald Wennerstrom	Respond to of 95541

I can't find the post right now, but about a week ago, or so, an article was posted about AMAT with regard to their becoming stronger "across the board" in their product lines and service/support areas compared to their competitors. I think they have a history of taking market share, particularly when times are bad and others cannot match their R&D and marketing muscle. As to whether they are going to be guiding higher or lower I do not know - wish I did because then I could "bet" the right way.<g> However, I think they have a better chance than most to "hold their ground" or improve. We won't have long to wait to find out what they say. Don

To: Alastair McIntosh who wrote (6521)	10/29/2002 8:34:00 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 95541

AMAT's market share. They appear to be losing overall market share this year ???? Applied takes share from Lam, Novellus, TEL, says report Semiconductor Business News (10/11/02 01:55 p.m. EST) NEW TRIPOLI, Pa.--Despite the downturn in the IC industry, Applied Materials Inc. appears to have gained market share in the capital equipment business in 2002--all at the expense of its rivals, according to a report from The Information Network here today. "Based on equipment sectors analyzed in the report, Applied will increase its share of its served equipment market from 41% in 2001 to 45% in 2002", said Robert N. Castellano, president of The Information Network, a market research firm in New Tripoli. "Applied's market shares dropped in 2001, and the company aggressively invested in R&D during the downturn in 2001, even building a state-of-the-art development facility, and the results are paying off," he said. The Santa Clara-based company has also gained market share in several equipment sectors. For example, in the dielectric etch sector, its market share will increase from 21% in 2001 to 24% in 2002, according to the report. The leader in the market is Japan's Tokyo Electron Ltd. Applied will also increase its share from 31% to 51% in the metal etch sector. The company will become the leader in this market in 2002, surpassing Lam Research Corp., according to the report. It will also grow its share from 57% to 77% in the high-density plasma chemical vapor deposition (HDPCVD) sector, and from 41% to 65% in the plasma enhanced CVD (PECVD) sector, according to the report. The company is the leader in HDPCDVD. In the PECVD market, Applied will surpass U.S.-based Novellus Systems Inc. in terms of market share, according to the report. It will also grow its market share from 62% in 2001 to 68% in 2002 in the auto-defect review sector, from 13% to 18% in the CD-SEM sector, and from 10% to 13% in the wafer defect inspection sector, according to the report. Applied remains the leader in the auto-defect market. Meanwhile, Hitachi Ltd. and KLA-Tencor Inc. remain the leaders in the CD-SEM and wafer inspection markets, respectively.