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

To: rhering who wrote (7822)	10/29/2003 7:44:48 AM
From: Proud_Infidel	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25522

UMC Q3 results: lowers capex, sees better Q4 by Mike Clendenin, EETimes Silicon Strategies 10/29/2003, 6:05 AM ET TAIPEI, Taiwan -- United Microelectronics Corp. said it is reducing capital expenditure by $150 million this year, but suggested that it would build out its 12-inch capacity in 2004 at a faster pace than previously planned. Earlier this year, UMC said it would spend $500 million on its fabs, plus another $200 million on its UMCi venture in Singapore and 15 billion yen (about $140 million) on UMC Japan. On Wednesday, however, the company said it would cut its 2003 spending on its fabs to $350 million. "We have placed orders for $500 million, but we will push payment of $150 million into the first quarter," a spokesman said. That sum will be included in next year's capital expenditure estimate. No specifics were provided on a more aggressive 12-inch wafer fab build-out. The book-keeping twist regarding equipment purchase was mixed in with the company's third quarter results, which were mostly upbeat. Revenue decreased slightly to $638 million, down 0.8 percent from the second quarter but up 12.5 percent from a year ago. Profit hit $124 million, up 56 percent from the second quarter and 195 percent from a year ago. Most of the quarterly increase in profit came from UMC selling off shares in IC designer Mediatek Inc. and LCD panel supplier AU Optronics, a move that netted $65 million. Quarter over quarter, wafer shipments declined 0.7 percent, but the average selling price per wafer rose by 1 percent. Manufacturing capacity utilization was about the same as in the second quarter, at 84 percent. "Demand for communications chips recovered strongly late in the third quarter," said Jackson Hu, chief executive officer of UMC. "For the remainder of the year, we expect communications to be the strongest performing segment followed by the consumer and PC sectors." Wafer shipments should increase by 10 percent in the fourth quarter, while ASP is expected to remain flat. Capacity utilization should exceed 90 percent, pushing operating profit up more than 20 percent. Advanced technology, defined as 0.18-micron and finer geometries, will be more than 45 percent of revenue.

To: rhering who wrote (7822)	10/29/2003 2:41:31 PM
From: rhering	Respond to of 25522

From Silicon Strategies:'04 CapEx forecasts for Intel, Samsung, ST, TSMC Analyst's Couch: '04 CapEx forecasts for Intel, Samsung, ST, TSMC By Mark LaPedus Silicon Strategies 10/29/2003, 2:00 PM ET SAN JOSE -- The sudden upswing in the semiconductor industry has prompted investment banking firm Needham & Co. Inc. to raise its capital spending forecasts for both 2003 and 2004. Cristina Osmena, an analyst with Needham & Co. in New York, also raised her capital spending forecasts for Intel, Samsung, STMicroelectronics, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC) for 2004. "We are updating our bottoms up Capex model to reflect changes to budgets through Q3 reporting season and changes in our assumptions," Osmena said in a report issued this week. "We now expect 2003 capital spending to increase 4 percent to $29.3 billion, compared with our previous estimate of flat growth, or $28.5 billion," Osmena said. "We expect 2004 capital spending to grow 25 percent, or $36.7 billion vs. our prior estimate of 24 percent, or $35 billion," she said. Others had a different viewpoint. The improving economy and growth in chip sales are expected to boost wafer fab construction activity in 2004, according to a report from Strategic Marketing Associates (SMA) issued on Monday (October 27, 2003). George Burns, president of the Santa Cruz-based market research firm, sees growth in new fab activity and capital spending at restrained levels this year, but picking up strongly in 2004. SMA's capital spending survey indicates that chip makers will increase spending by 11 percent this year to $31 billion, up from $28 billion last year. But the forecast is for an increase of 23 percent in 2004 to almost $40 billion, according to SMA (see October 27 story). Meanwhile, on a company-by-company basis, there is good and bad news concerning Intel Corp. Needham's Osmena lowered her capital spending forecast for Intel by $100 million in 2003, but raised her 2004 assumption slightly to $3.9 billion, from $3.7 billion. "For Samsung, we raised our 2003 estimate for semiconductor capex to $3.7 billion from $3 billion (we had previously expected them to underspend) and raised our 2004 estimate to $4.4 billion from $3.6 billion," according to the report. "For ST Microelectronics, we have raised our 2003 estimate to $1.2 billion from $900 million and 2004 to $1.6 billion from $1.1 billion," the report said. "We are raising our 2004 TSMC capex assumption slightly to $2.25 billion from $2 billion." On the back of its third quarter financial results and capacity utilization rates that have gone to 98 percent, leading foundry chip supplier TSMC indicated it plans to spend nearly $500 million in the fourth quarter of 2003. This will bring its capital expenditure up to approaching $1.2 billion for the year after spending $706 million during the first three quarters of the year, TSMC showed in presentation materials (see October 28 story).

To: rhering who wrote (7822)	10/29/2003 3:40:17 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 25522

It would appear yet another analyst stepped in it......I am not so sure the firm saw this FDA report before issuing their outlook. It sounds as though they were making this call on stock action alone, but I may be wrong..... Brian 2:40PM Johnson & Johnson upgraded to Outperform at RBC on valuation 49.45 -1.09: -- Update -- RBC Capital upgrades to Outperform from Sector Perform based on valuation, as the stock is trading at a 5-year low on an absolute forward P/E basis and trades at 0.95x the S&P 500 (avg 1.14x); firm thinks today's sell-off offers an especially good entry-point for long-term investors, as it appears to be based on old news about the safety of the co's Cypher stent. Target is $60. ***************** Today's Headline: FDA: Serious J&J Heart Device Problems Wednesday October 29, 2:49 pm ET By Debra Sherman CHICAGO (Reuters) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (News - Websites) on Wednesday said Johnson & Johnson's (NYSE:JNJ - News) newest heart device may cause blood clots and other side effects, and it linked the device to more than 60 deaths. The news sent J&J's shares down to their lowest point in more than a year before recovering somewhat. It was the second such warning sent to doctors since the launch of the device in April 2003. Regulators said the company's drug-coated stent, a tiny wire mesh device used to prop open surgically cleared arteries and deliver medicine to keep them open, resulted in more than 290 cases of blood clots among patients 30 days after receiving the device. It said the Cypher stent was linked to deaths in more than 60 clotting cases. In other cases, the stent was associated with injury requiring medical or surgical intervention, it added. The FDA has also received more than 50 reports, some involving deaths, that J&J considers to be possible hypersensitivity reactions, the letter said. The symptoms include pain, rash, respiratory alterations, hives, itching, fever and blood pressure changes. "We've implanted over 100 of these stents and I haven't seen any of those problems," said Lloyd Kline, a cardiologist with Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. "We need more information. Was it used in the way it was used in the trials? Are these the very sickest patients? There are a lot of questions that need to be answered." The long-awaited devices have been expected to revolutionize the treatment of clogged coronary arteries, by sharply reducing the need for repeat procedures. Analysts have expected the drug-coated stents to double the size of the current market to $5 billion by 2005. In July, the FDA sent the first letter to doctors, which said it was reviewing reports of problems with the stent and was working with J&J to reduce the incidence of potentially deadly blood clots. J.P. Morgan analyst Michael Weinstein said his concern was that events of this type may have been under-reported. The actual incidence of blood clots, he noted, is still quite low at roughly 0.06 percent. In its letter, the FDA added it does not have enough information to determine whether the incidence of clotting and hypersensitivity reaction with the Cypher stent differs from those experienced with stents that are not coated with drugs. The cause of these events has not yet been determined, the FDA said, adding that it was working with the company to gather more information. "They're posting this update because it's brand-new technology that's only been out on the market for about six months, so the FDA feels it's important to encourage physicians to report any (clotting) when using the Cypher stent," said Terri Mueller, a J&J spokeswoman. "Despite this call for physicians to report (clotting), our rate is still well below that of a bare-metal stent." The FDA letter also noted that hundreds of thousands of patients have been successfully treated with the Cypher stent, the first of its kind on the U.S. market. Mark Ricciari, an interventional cardiologist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, said that unless the incidence of blood clotting is more than 1 percent there should be no cause for alarm, and it probably will not change the way the device is being used. "This is getting a lot of scrutiny because it has been marketed so aggressively and has been adopted so readily, more than any other product I've ever seen," said Ricciari, who participated in some of the clinical trials testing the stent. Shares in Johnson & Johnson fell $1.14, or 2.3 percent, to $49.40 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange (News - Websites) . Earlier the stock dropped as low as $48.10. Shares in Boston Scientific Corp. (NYSE:BSX - News), which currently has its version of a drug-coated stent under regulatory review, were up $1.77, or 2.7 percent, at $67.32, also on the NYSE. (Additional reporting by Jed Seltzer and Ransdell Pierson in New York)