Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

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

To: Proud_Infidel who wrote (14939)	5/12/2005 12:31:49 PM
From: Kirk ©	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25522

I got this from the LumiLEDs newsletter This is a part of Agilent they are hiring too lumileds.com home.businesswire.com May 05, 2005 02:06 PM US Eastern Timezone Fraen Corporation Sheds New Light On Mysterious ''Mona Lisa''; Turns LED Technology Into Fine Art Illuminating Masterpiece In The Louvre READING, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 5, 2005--One of the most famous paintings in the world, Leonardo Da Vinci's "Mona Lisa"(La Gioconda, La Gioconde) in the Louvre Museum, Paris, is now being seen in a new multi-million dollar gallery -- and actually in a whole new light -- as the result of a highly advanced optical system developed by Fraen Srl, Milan, Italy, the R&D Division of Fraen Corporation in Reading, Massachusetts. Fraen's unique lighting solution on this rare international collaborative project is a precisely focused beam of intense color-perfect LED (Light Emitting Diode) light that now illuminates the painting with unprecedented clarity. Taking nearly a year to develop, Fraen's design for the "Mona Lisa" lighting scheme incorporates high-powered LEDs that replicate daylight without the harmful effects of ultra-violet (UV) light and infrared (IR) radiation. After a visitor's attack with a stone in 1956, the 500-year-old "Mona Lisa" has been protected for decades behind glass in a modestly lighted gallery at the Louvre, where the reflections and dimness often frustrated the millions of visitors. Now in its new, environmentally controlled installation, the "Mona Lisa" is displayed behind thick glass and is clearly, yet subtly, illuminated. Selected because of their extraordinary experience in optical design and development, Fraen's designers were asked to achieve a precise color mix, utilizing various colors of Luxeon I and Luxeon III LEDs from Lumileds Lighting LLC, San Jose, CA. To achieve the precise color rendering, Fraen's designers used computer simulations to determine the optimum quantity and color of the LEDs, while producing the exact rectangular shape of the area to be lighted. For Fraen, the color and intensity of the LED beam were especially challenging due to Da Vinci's unique painting style in the "Mona Lisa," which features soft transitions of color, giving the painting, and that famous smile, a mysterious misty atmosphere. Fraen's advanced optical system created an innovative lighting application, while retaining the genius of the "Mona Lisa" by not masking or changing it in any way. In addition to Fraen Corporation, the "Mona Lisa" technical group included other engineering leaders in Europe, coordinated by the project's lead company, Sklaer of Germany. Sklaer produces high quality lighting systems for museums, automotive industry and architecture. For more than fifty years, Fraen Corporation, with facilities worldwide, has been serving a global market as a high precision manufacturer of innovative products. Fraen's commitment to developing high-quality technologically advanced optical solutions has made them a world leader in focusing light from high-powered Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs).

To: Proud_Infidel who wrote (14939)	5/12/2005 1:47:35 PM
From: Return to Sender	Respond to of 25522

Applied Materials Ahead of Earnings Jocelynn Drake (jdrake@sir-inc.com) 5/12/2005 12:49 PM ET schaeffersresearch.com While the earnings spotlight has begun to dim at last, there are still a few heavy hitters that are due to slide into the limelight. One particularly interesting stock is Applied Materials (AMAT: sentiment, chart, options) . The firm develops, manufactures, markets, and services integrated circuit fabrication equipment for the worldwide semiconductor industry. The company makes systems that perform the primary steps in the chip fabrication process, including atomic layer deposition, chemical vapor deposition, physical vapor deposition, electrochemical plating, etch, ion implantation, rapid thermal processing, chemical mechanical polishing, wafer metrology and inspection, and systems that generate, etch, measure and inspect circuit patterns on masks used in the photolithography process. AMAT is slated to slip into the earnings confessional on May 17 after the close. The Street is prognosticating a profit of 17 cents per share, down from its year-ago gain of 22 cents per share. Historically, the firm has been a strong performer, as it has surpassed the consensus estimate for the past five quarters by an average of 16 percent. Technically speaking, the shares have been rather lackluster, underperforming the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite (COMP). In fact, the security's weekly relative-strength measure versus the COMP has slid lower since November 2003. Moving in for a closer look, the stock has rebounded from its mid-April low of 14.33, but is facing potential resistance in the 16.25 area. This region marks a 50-percent retracement of the stock's decline from its late-February high of 18.14. What's more, the equity must still conquer resistance in the form of its 20-week trendline at 16.20. AMAT has not closed a week above this intermediate-term moving average since the beginning of March. From a longer-term perspective, the shares are battling resistance at their 10-month moving average, a trendline the stock has closed only one month above during the past year. Despite the security's rather disappointing technical performance, investors continue to bet rather heavily on a rally in the shares. The stock's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) has steadily declined since late March, indicating that speculators are adding calls at a faster rate than puts in the front three months of options. What's more, the current reading of 0.60 is lower than 79 percent of all those taken during the past 52 weeks. Short sellers have also abandoned their bearish bets. In April, the number of AMAT shares sold short dropped by five percent to 39.2 million shares, resulting in a short-interest ratio of only 1.37 days to cover. This paltry accumulation of bearish bets offers up little in the way of potential short-covering support. Checking in on Wall Street, we find that the brokerage firms following AMAT are leaning slightly toward the bulls' camp. According to Zacks, 13 of the 24 analysts following the company rate it a "buy" or better, while just one gives the stock a "sell" rating. This bullish configuration leaves ample room for potential downgrades should the tech firm fail to impress the Street next week with its earnings report. Overall, this combination of lackluster technicals and overwhelming optimism has earned AMAT a Schaeffer's Equity Scorecard ranking of 2.0 out of 10, indicating that the path of least resistance may continue to be lower for the shares.