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

To: Proud_Infidel who wrote (7181)	9/16/2003 8:57:45 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 25522

Analyst's Couch: SEMI's book-to-bill projected at 1.01 in August By Mark LaPedus Silicon Strategies 09/16/2003, 6:15 PM ET SAN JOSE -- Amid a slight upturn in orders and shipments, North American semiconductor-equipment makers are expected to reach parity and post a book-to-bill ratio of 1.01 for August, up from 0.97 in July, according to a new report issued this week by Berean Capital Inc., an investment banking firm in Chicago. Berean's book-to-bill ratio is an estimate of a three-month rolling average for North American chip-equipment makers in August. The official book-to-bill ratio is expected to be released Wednesday afternoon (Sept. 17, 2003), by the Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) trade group in San Jose. Last month, SEMI said the book-to-bill for North American chip-equipment makers hit 0.97 for the month of July. For August, North American chip-equipment makers are expected to post orders of $824 million in August, up 8 percent in July, according to the report from Berean. Shipments are expected to hit $811 million in August, up 3 percent from July, according to the report. There is more good and bad news for chip-equipment vendors. The "front-end bookings recovery (continues) after being down for most of the first half of this year," said analyst Vijay Rakesh, who watches the chip-equipment market for Berean, in the report. But the back-end is slowing down after being up for most of the first half of the year, according to Rakesh. "We believe increasingly chip manufacturers and IDMs are placing orders for front-end equipment," he said in the report. "We believe backend booking will slow down." Overall, Berean is projecting that the semiconductor capital equipment industry will grow 5 percent to 10 percent in 2003. In 2002, the fab-tool market hit $28 billion, according to the firm. At present, bookings for fab-tool makers appear to be better in Q3, growing 10 percent to 15 percent in the period. But Q4 bookings are "anemic' so far, according to the report. "Semiconductor cap equipment orders have been slow and have not materialized, especially because uncertainty in end markets," Rakesh said. "We believe front-end bookings will continue, in line with our thesis" that capital spending will be flat in 2003 over 2002, he said. "We believe despite the 10-15 percent rise in bookings in Q3, there needs to be an additional 40-50 percent spike in Q4 to maintain flat capex bookings."