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

To: StanX Long who wrote (13054)	1/15/2004 11:17:51 PM
From: StanX Long	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 95390

Orders pick-up as ASML's Q4 beats expectations By Peter Clarke Silicon Strategies 01/15/2004, 7:32 AM ET VELDHOVEN, The Netherlands -- Lithography equipment maker ASML Holding NV exceeded the most bullish of analysts' expectations when it announced Thursday (January 15, 2004) a net profit of 16 million euro (about US$20 million) on sales of 526 million euros (about US$665 million) in the fourth quarter of 2003. In an even more positive vein orders came in during the fourth quarter to take the company's backlog from 91 at the end of the third quarter to 124 at the end of the fourth, including 103 new machines and 21 refurbished ones. Of the order backlog approximately 80 percent is expected to ship within six months. However, the backlog was valued at 993 million euros (about $1.26 billion), less than the backlog of 110 machine ASML had one year ago. Financial analysts had previously said that profits could be as low as 5 million euros (about US$6.3 million) on sales revenues of 470 million euros (about US$594 million) (see January 13 story). In the third quarter of 2003 ASML made a net loss of 31 million euro (about US$39 million) on sales revenue of 370 million euros (about US$468 million) and despite the strong fourth quarter ASML made a net loss for the year of 160 million euro (about US$200 million) on 1,543 million euros (about US$1,950 million). However, the positives were tempered by the average selling price achieved in the fourth quarter of 2003, which was 9.5 million euro, compared with 10.8 million in Q3 2003. The average selling price depends on the types of machines sold and the mix of new and refurbished machine shipped. It was also announced that Doug Dunn, the company's president and chief executive officer plans to retire in 2004. Commenting on the results Dunn said: "ASML excelled in many areas despite showing a net loss for the year. In technology leadership, ASML introduced and sold the industry's first-ever immersion lithography system, shipped the first full-field 157 nm tool and secured its top spot in the industry by delivering the most leading-edge systems. From a cash management perspective, we repaid a US$ 520 million convertible bond, generated 484 million euros from operating and investing activities and ended the year with over one billion euros in cash," said Dunn, in a statement. ASML was also voted by Silicon Strategies' readers 'Chip equipment supplier of the year' for 2003.