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Technology Stocks : Semi Equipment Analysis -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TI2, TechInvestorToo who wrote (12115)	10/20/2003 12:27:45 PM
From: Return to Sender	Respond to of 95420

From Briefing.com: 10:17AM Photronics on the defensive (PLAB) 21.75 -0.80: -- Technical -- Stock has slumped below its 50 day averages this morning and is testing support at 21.74 (Oct 07 low). A sustained break here opens the door back to supports at 21.47 (congestion) with its Oct low at 21.18. 9:30AM JDS Uniphase started with a Sell at Smith Barney (JDSU) 3.82 -0.06: -- Update -- Smith Barney initiates coverage with a Sell rating and $3.50 target; firm still believes that we are a couple of years away from a recovery in the optical mkt, and while JDSU's non-telecom businesses have helped stabilize their results, there is not enough disclosure to give them full credit; firm also views valuation as a hurdle given that about one-half of rev and over 100% of operating income come from more industrial businesses that would not trade at the multiples seen in the telecom sector. 8:59AM Helix Tech reports in line, ex items, misses on revs, declares dividend (HELX) 16.40: Reports Q3 (Sep) loss of $0.02 per share, excluding non-cash charge of $8.6 mln primarily to establish full valuation allowance against net deferred tax assets, in line with the Reuters Research consensus of ($0.02); revenues fell 5.2% year/year to $26.0 mln vs the $26.8 mln R.R. consensus and the $27 mln First Call consensus. Co's Board also declares quarterly cash dividend of $0.04, payable on Nov. 13 to stockholders of record at close of business on Oct.31. 8:51AM Cisco Systems could hit high end of rev guidance - UBS (CSCO) 20.64: UBS expects the co to report an in-line qtr on Nov 4, as checks suggest that bookings have been stronger than expected, making it possible for the co to hit the high end of its rev guidance of 2-4% sequential growth, and firm says U.S., China, Japan were likely strong. Maintains Buy rating and $25 target. 8:40AM Micron downgraded at Bernstein; target $7 (MU) 12.85: Bernstein downgrades to Underperform from Mkt Perform and cuts their target to $7 from $9; firm says that in a period of normal seasonal strength, DRAM spot and contract prices have begun to roll over, which is a harbinger of stock underperformance. 8:39AM Semitool settles patent litigation with TEL (SMTL) 9.00: Co announced that it has reached an amicable settlement with Tokyo Electron relating to certain patents asserted by both companies in litigation in U.S. District Court. Both parties have dismissed their respective patent claims without the exchange of any monetary compensation. All other terms of the settlement are confidential. 8:11AM M-Systems reports in line, guides Q4 & Y03 revs above consensus (FLSH) 20.58: Reports Q3 (Sep) net of breakeven; revenues rose 89.4% year/year to $34.1 mln vs the $28.2 mln consensus. Co also guides Q4, sees revenues of at least $40 mln, vs an R.R. estimate of $32.2 mln, bringing total Y03 revs to over $120 mln; the R.R. Y03 revenue estimate is 108.2 mln. 8:05AM SanDisk announces ViewSonic as first OEM of 802.11b card (SNDK) 74.68: Co announces that ViewSonic Corp will be the industry's first PDA manufacturer to offer a branded wireless local area network (WLAN) accessory card design, based on the Secure Digital Input Output (SDIO) standard, with their portfolio of Pocket PC designs. 9:26AM The Technical Take : The market averages were on the defensive on Friday with the tech dominated Nasdaq pacing the way. Despite the sizeable retreat, however, volume declined at both the Nasdaq and the NYSE which implies that the pullback off of last week's fresh 52-wk highs has thus far been of mild profit taking variety. For the week as a whole the results were close to unchanged with the averages merely edging back to their respective breakout points (Sep highs). Nothing particularly ominous about this situation with the sector action still constructive with the leading sectors from the widely followed banking sector (BKX) along with cyclical (CYC), healthcare (HMO) and housing (HGX). Underperforming groups were led by oil service (OSX), biotech (BTK), drug (DRG) and consumer (CMR). These groups have yet to breakdown, however, with their multi-month trading ranges still intact. Nasdaq Composite: OK, so while the action has not been particularly worrisome thus far, the averages appear to be at a near term crossroad. A pullback to a breakout point is not an unusual development but the fact that the averages did see all of last week's momentum dissipate and are holding on to a top heavy technical posture for both the daily and weekly charts (no negative signals yet) does at least raise the possibility that a deeper pullback may develop. From the hourly chart we have a few key levels on the upside on which we will be focused. Initial resistance resistance is in the 1920/1921 congestion area followed by the 20 exp and 50 simple mov avg on the hourly chart which both start the day at 1929. Also of note is the bottom of the initial pullback low of 1930 from last Thursday. This is watched as an indicator of the underlying strength of a move. In other words if this low is exceeded, it suggests a less aggressive pattern and a more limited period of consolidation. The key thereafter to confirm the limited dip scenario is the 1951/1952 area.