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

To: Sarmad Y. Hermiz who wrote (4816)	1/7/2003 8:45:13 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25522

Sarmad, That is great news, especially in this ultra-cautious environment.....it is difficult to imagine that this will be a trend which is in place 5 years from now.......BWDIK. Wal-Mart still bigger than entire IC industry Semiconductor Business News (01/07/03 06:37 p.m. EST) PEBBLE BEACH, Calif.--Here's a trick question: Which is bigger in terms of worldwide sales--the semiconductor industry or U.S. retail giant Wal-Mart? Answer: Wal-Mart. Putting the industry in perspective, Wal-Mart alone is larger than the semiconductor business and by a wide margin, according to IC Insights Inc. In 2002, Wal-Mart is expected to realize sales of $235 billion, according to IC Insights. In comparison, the IC industry is expected to generate sales of $188 million in 2002, according to the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based market research firm. Wal-Mart actually surpassed the semiconductor industry back in 1998. At the time, Wal-Mart's sales were $138 billion, compared to $126 billion for the chip business.

To: Sarmad Y. Hermiz who wrote (4816)	1/7/2003 9:06:17 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Respond to of 25522

To balance the RFMD news.....GTW not as good as DELL in finding buyers IMO.....again IMHO, GTW has an obvious fixed cost structure which acts like an anvil around its neck during times like these with their Gateway stores. As such, I do not put much into GTW's warning. FWIW Brian UPDATE - Gateway warns of wider loss on slow sales Tuesday January 7, 8:01 pm ET By Duncan Martell (Adds analyst comments, conference call, byline, changes dateline, previous POWAY, Calif.) SAN FRANCISCO, Jan 7 (Reuters) - Personal computer maker Gateway Inc. on Tuesday warned of a deeper quarterly loss than previously expected, citing disappointing holiday spending and aggressive sales promotions that crimped margins. Gateway (NYSE:GTW - News) said it expected fourth-quarter revenue to be almost 12 percent below its prior "best-case" forecast at $1.06 billion, with a loss per share of between 18 to 19 cents, compared to its earlier outlook for a loss of 13 cents. The Poway, California-based company has been battered by competition from Dell Computer Corp. (NasdaqNM:DELL - News) in a slack personal computer market and has only posted a quarterly profit once in the past two years. Gateway said on Monday it may close some of its retail stores and named new executives. Shares in Gateway slipped to $2.95 in after-hours trade, down from a close of $3.17 on the New York Stock Exchange. "Gateway is not a huge surprise given the weakness in retail and their firefight with Dell and HP and obviously you've heard from about every retailer that Christmas wasn't great," said Dan Niles, an analyst at Lehman Brothers. Gateway's warning came after some PC makers such as computer and printer maker Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE:HPQ - News) had warned not to expect an exceptional Christmas selling season. "Gateway is in a very, very tough spot," said Roger Kay, an analyst at market research firm International Data Corp. "They've got this declining revenue base and fixed costs that are difficult to reduce." Analysts had expected Gateway to post fourth-quarter revenue of $1.22 billion, for a loss of 14 cents per share, according to tracking firm Thomson First Call. DISPUTE Gateway also said it was evaluating a dispute with a "major partner," and that the dispute could add an additional three cents a share in losses in the fourth quarter. On a conference call to discuss the warning, Gateway founder and Chief Executive Ted Waitt and Chief Financial Officer Rod Sherwood declined to give details of the dispute or to name the partner. "October was softer than we had hoped," Wait said on the call. Sherwood said that gross margin, or the percentage of sales remaining after subtracting the cost of production, would fall from third-quarter levels, citing aggressive pricing and promotions, and the higher proportion of cheaper personal computer systems sold. "It was a holiday season heavily oriented to discounting and promotions," Waitt said. "As everyone knows Dell is very competitive, HP was very competitive." Gateway also said it ended 2002 with $1.05 billion in cash and marketable securities. For 2003, the PC maker expects the level to remain at more than $1 billion, including an expected tax refund of at least $200 million early this year. Because it does not expect to pay taxes for 2003, Gateway said its pretax losses will equal net losses. Gateway's revenue warning came a day after the company's shares fell 4.6 percent after it announced it was undergoing yet another restructuring. Gateway said it is looking closely at its 272 retail stores and may close some. Early indications from retailers like Best Buy Co. and Circuit City Stores Inc. have been that fourth-quarter sales of electronics were weak. The fourth quarter is traditionally the industry's strongest, driven by the Christmas shopping season. "We were expecting this shortfall and I think we're expecting something like that for Apple," Kay said. "We know that both companies had really tough holidays." Waitt, when asked to comment on whether the company had lost market share in the fourth quarter, said: "It's a little early to predict anything on the share front."