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

To: etchmeister who wrote (15267)	6/15/2005 8:07:21 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Respond to of 25522

I saw that today and was very surprised that AMD would pick that location for a new fab. Would think they would be looking east like everyone else. Must be some incentives.

To: etchmeister who wrote (15267)	6/16/2005 10:28:42 AM
From: Proud_Infidel	Respond to of 25522

Market Pulse: Excess chip inventory seen falling 21% Thursday June 16, 10:25 am ET By Matt Andrejczak SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Chip suppliers are further burning off excess inventory due to improving market conditions, according to preliminary data from iSuppli, a chip research outfit. Excess chip stockpiles are expected to decline to under $500 million in value by the end of the second quarter, down 21% from $630 million at the end of the first quarter, iSuppli said Thursday. Surplus chip inventory swelled to $1.62 billion last September, sparking an industry slowdown and a sell off in chip stocks. "Chip inventory at distributors remains lean," iSuppli said. "The snap-back effect, where distributors add too much supply after a correction, is not expected to materialize during this correction cycle."

To: etchmeister who wrote (15267)	6/16/2005 12:46:44 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Respond to of 25522

Entegris Forecasts Weak 4Q Sales Thursday June 16, 12:36 pm ET Entegris Posts Lower Third-Quarter Results, Says 4Q Sales Will Be Flat With Latest Quarter CHASKA, Minn. (AP) -- Entegris Inc., a maker of semiconductor production equipment, said Thursday that profit dropped 23 percent for the fiscal third quarter on lower sales and predicted that current-quarter revenue will not increase from the spring period. The company's shares slumped 85 cents, or 8.3 percent, to $9.35 in midday trading on the Nasdaq. For the quarter ended May 28, Entegris earned $7.1 million, or 9 cents per share, down from $9.2 million, or 12 cents per share, a year earlier. The latest quarter results would have been lower except for a gain of $1.1 million from a distribution payment related to an investment in Metron Technology NV. Metron, now called Nortem NV, made a cash distribution to its shareholders as part of its buyout by Applied Materials Inc. Meanwhile, revenue slid 12 percent to $87.1 million from $98.6 million, as sales were weak for smaller wafer carrier products, semiconductor capital equipment and services. Still, the earnings were higher than Entegris' forecast for profit of 7 cents to 8 cents per share. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial expected profit of 7 cents per share on lower sales of $85.6 million. Entegris said demand for its disk media has been strong and noted that data storage sales were up from the immediately preceding quarter by about 36 percent. The company said wafer shipper sales also increased. "The semiconductor market is emerging from a mild slowdown," Chief Executive Jim Dauwalter said in a statement. "Our unit-driven business remains solid, primarily related to overall fab utilization, while the capital equipment market is volatile and is still recovering from the industry slowdown." Looking to the fourth quarter, Entegris forecast earnings of 4 cents to 5 cents per share on sales essentially flat with the third quarter. The outlook includes about $1.9 million in restructuring costs and a gain of $664,000 from Metron distributions. Analysts are looking for earnings of 8 cents per share, though these estimates usually exclude one-time or unusual items. Separately, Entegris said antitrust regulators ended the mandatory waiting period for its planned merger with Mykrolis Corp. of Billerica, Mass., ahead of schedule. The companies plan to complete the merger sometime between July and September.

To: etchmeister who wrote (15267)	6/16/2005 8:25:08 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25522

SEMI's tool book-to-bill inches up to 0.85 EE Times (06/16/2005 6:23 PM EDT) SAN JOSE, Calif. — North American-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted a book-to-bill ratio of 0.85 in May, up from 0.81 in April, according to the Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) trade group. A book-to-bill of 0.85 means that $85 worth of orders were received for every $100 of product billed for the month. The SEMI book-to-bill is a ratio of three-month moving averages of worldwide bookings and billings for North American-based semiconductor equipment manufacturers. The three-month average of worldwide bookings in May 2005 was $1.03 billion. The bookings figure is 2.7 percent above the revised April 2005 level of $998.8 million and 34 percent below the $1.56 billion in orders posted in May 2004. The three-month average of worldwide billings in May 2005 was $1.21 billion. The billings figure is 2.6 percent below the revised April 2005 level of $1.24 billion and 15 percent below the May 2004 billings level of $1.41 billion. "While some semiconductor manufacturing equipment segments have improved, overall bookings levels have remained relatively constant over the past several months," said Stanley T. Myers, president and CEO of SEMI (San Jose), in a statment. "Total orders for new equipment are lower in comparison to the same period in 2004. However, last year was a tremendously strong growth year and current booking levels are significantly higher than they were in the 2002 and 2003 timeframe."

To: etchmeister who wrote (15267)	6/17/2005 11:56:42 AM
From: Proud_Infidel	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25522

Japan's fab-tool book-to-bill jumps to 0.91 EE Times (06/17/2005 10:23 AM EDT) SAN JOSE, Calif. — Japanese-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted a book-to-bill ratio of 0.91 in May, up from 0.84 in April, according to new figures from the Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan (SEAJ). The three-month average of worldwide bookings in May were 117,327 million yen ($1.07 billion), up 2.4 percent from the revised April 2005 level and down 24 percent from the orders posted in May 2004. The three-month average of worldwide billings in May were 128,439 million yen ($1.18 billion), down 6.1 percent from the revised April 2005 level and down 17 percent from the May 2004 billings level. The figures indicate that the Japanese chip-equipment industry is slowing. In comparison, North American-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted a book-to-bill ratio of 0.85 in May, up from 0.81 in April, according to the Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) trade group (see June 16 story).