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 (16551)	11/14/2005 12:32:14 AM
From: Gottfried	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 25522

Brian=Fitzgerald?? >the downside of this is that the estimates are not for revenues to be up dramatically. Profit growth will be up on smaller numbers

To: Proud_Infidel who wrote (16551)	11/14/2005 7:29:49 AM
From: Fred Levine	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 25522

Global chip equipment Sept sales down 10.8 pct y/y Mon Nov 14, 2005 03:12 AM ET TOKYO, Nov 14 (Reuters) - Global sales of chip equipment fell in September for an eighth straight month, though the shrinking scale of decline in recent months suggests demand for tools used to make microchips is on a firm recovery path, an industry group said on Monday. September sales fell 10.8 percent from a year earlier to $3.2 billion, compared with a 19.1 percent slide in August and a 20.9 percent fall in July, the Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan (SEAJ) said. The SEAJ compiles the monthly data with another industry group, California-based Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International. "The year-on-year decline is unlikely to disappear suddenly next month ... But we feel we are moving out of a phase of negative growth," an SEAJ spokesman said. Major chip equipment makers include Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) and Tokyo Electron Ltd. (8035.T: Quote, Profile, Research) -- the world's largest and second-largest suppliers of microchip-making tools -- and Advantest Corp. (6857.T: Quote, Profile, Research) , the world's biggest maker chip-testing equipment. Underscoring chip makers' healthy appetite for capital spending, Elpida Memory Inc. (6665.T: Quote, Profile, Research) , the world's fifth-largest DRAM chip maker, last month raised its capital investment plan for the year to next March by 32 percent to 190 billion yen. Also, electronics conglomerate Toshiba Corp. (6502.T: Quote, Profile, Research) last month boosted its capital spending budget for semiconductors by one-third to a record 225 billion yen for the year ending in March so as not to fall behind Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (005930.KS: Quote, Profile, Research) in the cost competitiveness of its cash cow NAND flash memory. NAND flash chips are a popular storage product widely used in digital cameras, photo-snapping phones and portable music players such as Apple Computer Inc.'s (AAPL.O: Quote, Profile, Research) hot-selling iPod nano. Following are September chip equipment sales figures (in million dollars, with percentage change from year earlier in parentheses): Value year/year Japan 1,060.697 (+35.5) N. America 544.731 (+1.3) Europe 284.603 (-13.2) S. Korea 302.847 (-35.0) Taiwan 579.792 (-27.1) China 161.960 (-50.5) Others 274.582 (-23.8) OVERALL 3,209.212 (-10.8) ($1=118.09 Yen) fred

To: Proud_Infidel who wrote (16551)	11/16/2005 9:10:03 AM
From: Kirk ©	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25522

Brian, your favorite lemmings and penguins continue to show good humor: Author: Kirk Discussion: A: Agilent Technologies Date: November 16, 2005 5:59 AM Subject: Agilent Upgraded by BofA (They had it as a SELL!) . Agilent has increased from a low of $20.11 to $34.42 in less then a year and NOW Bank of America upgrades it to neutral! LOL 8:31am 11/16/05 Agilent upgraded to neutral by Bank of America (A) By Steve Goldstein LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Agilent Technologies (A) was upgraded to neutral from sell by Bank of America, with the broker citing revised earnings estimates for operating margin improvements in core businesses. Its new price target is $33, up from $25.80. Agilent closed Wednesday trade at $34.50. suite101.com Agilent was downgraded from Neutral to Sell by BofA on Nov 12, 2004, just about a year ago. To be fair, Thomas Weisel, Merrill lynch and JP Morgan also downgraded Agilent in 2004 and they have not yet upgraded it! Date Research Firm Action From To 7-Feb-05 Robert W. Baird Upgrade Neutral to Outperform 12-Nov-04 JP Morgan Downgrade Overweight to Neutral 12-Nov-04 Banc of America Sec Downgrade Neutral to Sell 12-Nov-04 Thomas Weisel Downgrade Outperform to Peer Perform 5-Oct-04 Needham & Co Initiated Buy 12-Jul-04 Merrill Lynch Downgrade Buy to Neutral finance.yahoo.com Congratulations to Needham and Robert Baird, the ones that captured the 50% gain from the lows. Kirk Lindstrom ====> Click for a Free Sample of my Newsletter Editor: Investing and Personal Finance @ Suite101.com