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

To: Cary Salsberg who wrote (4674)	12/27/2002 11:57:15 AM
From: RMP	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 25522

OT- Wouldn’t legislative changes to eliminate taxation on dividends encourage these large cash hording tech companies to issue dividends? If that’s the case I would think they would do even better than what most bulls would expect during the inevitable upturn?

To: Cary Salsberg who wrote (4674)	12/27/2002 12:08:19 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Respond to of 25522

Cary, No dividends and relatively little capital costs* with support from depreciation help the cash build.* Not so sure that I agree with this viewpoint. During this period, AMAT and the other equipment companies were forced to bear the brunt of 300mm R&D spending while many 300mm projects were pushed back.

To: Cary Salsberg who wrote (4674)	12/30/2002 9:46:26 AM
From: robert b furman	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 25522

Good Morning Cary and Brian, It's important to remember that depreciation is a cashless expense. If a company just breaks even they have zero tax liability and are able to retain the cash equal to the years depreciation. Equipment companies having large R&D budget - also generate a large amount of equipment which is capitalized and depreciated. In a downturn,receivables,inventories,and cash are what good management focusses on. Past troughs have resulted in diminished receivables and inventories and hording of cash. The cash is required when ramping up of new products eventually occurs. Mergers and acquisitions have also been a use of cash in troughs also - like Cohu buying into Kryo tech. These guys are both good. JMHO Bob