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Strategies & Market Trends : Galapagos Islands -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Techplayer who wrote (27989)	2/20/2003 2:55:52 PM
From: Techplayer	Respond to of 57110

NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- Chip and hardware stocks moved higher Thursday as the semiconductor industry benefited from additional upbeat analyst chatter. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index added 1.4 percent to 293.03, while the Goldman Sachs Hardware Index edged up 0.3 percent to 164.56. Before the bell, Merrill Lynch upgraded the outlook for the semiconductor industry, turning to "slightly positive" from "negative" previously. On Wednesday, as well, Morgan Stanley boosted its outlook for the industry. As for individual stocks, Merrill removed "sell" ratings on seven stocks, including Applied Micro Circuits (AMCC) , Broadcom (BRCM) , Intel (INTC) and Vitesse Semiconductor (VTSS) . The brokerage's analysts also upgraded seven stocks to "buy" recommendations, including Agere Systems , Marvell Technology Group (MRVL) , Maxim Integrated Products (MXIM) and Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) . "We want to emphasize our belief that evidence of a recovery in demand remains very thin -- that is not the basis for our call," according to Merrill's research note. "We are focused on low inventory, low capital spending and valuation that is becoming reasonable even without relying on aggressively upbeat earnings estimates." Elsewhere, National Semiconductor (NSM) added 5 percent to $15.10 after becoming the latest chipmaker to chisel away at its expenses. See full story. National announced it wants to cut 5 percent of its 10,000-person staff and sell off its information-appliance and cellular-baseband units. Also, National expanded an outsourcing agreement with Taiwan Semi into a long-term deal covering both technology and manufacturing. Other Thursday gainers included Micron Technology (MU) , up 3 percent, as well as Broadcom, up 2.7 percent, and Maxim, up 1.4 percent. Late Tuesday, Micron said it's decided to cut 10 percent of its staff in a bid to regain profitability. Hardware stocks were in positive territory, but most were little changed. Brocade Communications Systems (BRCD) gained 5 percent and McData (MCDTA) added 3 percent, but other members of the Goldman hardware index couldn't muster gains of more than 1 percent