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Politics : Idea Of The Day -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: IQBAL LATIF who wrote (44355)	8/12/2003 6:36:01 PM
From: IQBAL LATIF	Respond to of 50167

AS AMAT beats the importance of AMAT to recovery cannot be underemphasised......as FT puts it <One firm in particular--Applied Materials--is the preeminent manufacturer of the equipment needed to make high-tech capital goods. And so today investing in Applied Materials is, as the Financial Times writes, a clean and highly leveraged bet on the strength of America's current anemic business-cycle recovery--a bet only for those with "iron nerves": > The Tip of the Whip That Is the Business Cycle Spending on services is acyclical--it does not change over the business cycle. Spending on goods does change: it falls in recessions, and rises rapidly during expansion. Spending on durable goods is even more cyclical: you can postpone purchases of durables when cash is tight during a downturn, and accelerate durables purchases when cash is plentiful. Spending on capital goods to make durable goods is even more of a business-cycle roller coaster: businesses will buy the capital goods needed to make durables only when they find that high demand for the durable goods they make has brought them to the limit of their capacity. And the most cyclically-sensitive sectors of all--the tip of the whip that is the business cycle--make the equipment needed to make the capital goods that firms purchase in order to produce durable goods. One firm in particular--Applied Materials--is the preeminent manufacturer of the equipment needed to make high-tech capital goods. And so today investing in Applied Materials is, as the Financial Times writes, a clean and highly leveraged bet on the strength of America's current anemic business-cycle recovery--a bet only for those with "iron nerves": FT.com Home US: For a leveraged bet on the tech rebound, they don't come much cleaner than this. Applied Materials, the biggest producer of equipment for semiconductor makers, has yet to show any bounce in sales or orders - but that hasn't prevented a 50 per cent jump in its stock since February, when it warned of a weakening order-book and more cuts. The faithful, who argued that the time to buy was in anticipation of the rebound, expect at least some vindication on Tuesday when the company reports earnings. Certainly, the latest figures should show the benefits of Applied's endless round of cost cutting. More important, most analysts expect the stirrings of expansion from Asian chipmakers to prompt Applied to forecast a 10 per cent increase in orders this quarter - though new CEO Mike Splinter is likely to maintain the cautious tone he has adopted so far. Investors in the chip equipment business, though, don't sweat the small stuff. Having slashed its cost base during the industry's nuclear winter, Applied has the potential for tremendous operating leverage. Capacity utilisation in the Asian chip foundries has rebounded from a woeful 40 per cent at the worst to nearer 80 per cent. Yet, fearful of seeing a repeat of last summer's false dawn, the chipmakers are delaying investment in new facilities. That could make any rebound even sharper. Of course, weak demand from end-customers, the source of last year's disappointment, would kill the rally in its tracks. Trading on more than 35 times 2004 forecast earnings, this is already a stock only for those with iron nerves. Posted by DeLong at 08:24 AM The Tip of the Whip That Is the Business Cycle Spending on services is acyclical--it does not change over the business cycle. Spending on goods does change: it falls in recessions, and rises rapidly during expansion. Spending on durable goods is even more cyclical: you can postpone purchases of durables when cash is tight during a downturn, and accelerate durables purchases when cash is plentiful. Spending on capital goods to make durable goods is even more of a business-cycle roller coaster: businesses will buy the capital goods needed to make durables only when they find that high demand for the durable goods they make has brought them to the limit of their capacity. And the most cyclically-sensitive sectors of all--the tip of the whip that is the business cycle--make the equipment needed to make the capital goods that firms purchase in order to produce durable goods. One firm in particular--Applied Materials--is the preeminent manufacturer of the equipment needed to make high-tech capital goods. And so today investing in Applied Materials is, as the Financial Times writes, a clean and highly leveraged bet on the strength of America's current anemic business-cycle recovery--a bet only for those with "iron nerves": FT.com Home US: For a leveraged bet on the tech rebound, they don't come much cleaner than this. Applied Materials, the biggest producer of equipment for semiconductor makers, has yet to show any bounce in sales or orders - but that hasn't prevented a 50 per cent jump in its stock since February, when it warned of a weakening order-book and more cuts. The faithful, who argued that the time to buy was in anticipation of the rebound, expect at least some vindication on Tuesday when the company reports earnings. Certainly, the latest figures should show the benefits of Applied's endless round of cost cutting. More important, most analysts expect the stirrings of expansion from Asian chipmakers to prompt Applied to forecast a 10 per cent increase in orders this quarter - though new CEO Mike Splinter is likely to maintain the cautious tone he has adopted so far. Investors in the chip equipment business, though, don't sweat the small stuff. Having slashed its cost base during the industry's nuclear winter, Applied has the potential for tremendous operating leverage. Capacity utilisation in the Asian chip foundries has rebounded from a woeful 40 per cent at the worst to nearer 80 per cent. Yet, fearful of seeing a repeat of last summer's false dawn, the chipmakers are delaying investment in new facilities. That could make any rebound even sharper. Of course, weak demand from end-customers, the source of last year's disappointment, would kill the rally in its tracks. Trading on more than 35 times 2004 forecast earnings, this is already a stock only for those with iron nerves. Posted by DeLong at 08:24 AM